


Caves

by Strawberrywaltz



Category: Power Rangers, Power Rangers Dino Charge
Genre: Adventure & Romance, Angst with a Happy Ending, Chase is a Good Bro, Depression, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Heckyl has a heart, Hurt Chase, Hurt Heckyl, M/M, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-19
Updated: 2019-03-26
Packaged: 2019-06-29 18:24:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 17
Words: 27,270
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15734925
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Strawberrywaltz/pseuds/Strawberrywaltz
Summary: When Chase and Heckyl are pulled through a portal to a strange, dangerous world, they must work together in order to survive.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [bookmawkish](https://archiveofourown.org/users/bookmawkish/gifts).



> This is a work in progress. I need something to write to relax after work ^^ I will update when I can. The story is plotted out and it will likely be kind of lengthy judging by how many pages the plotting ended up being, lol. 
> 
> Hope you enjoy!

Usually there was more mystery, more mayhem, more – well, Heckyl-ness. 

This seemed less planned and more, well, random. Or half-assed. Kind of like the alien’s heart wasn’t in it. 

Ha, that was a joke – Heckyl didn’t have a heart. Or if he did, Poisandra stole it to add to her collection. Chase frowned and wondered if perhaps he wasn’t too far off the mark with that thought. Granted it was obvious that the hearts Poisandra wore weren’t REALLY hearts. Right? 

The black ranger shook off the thought as the Vivix he was fighting exploded into a cloud of dust. The wind changed directions and blew some of the Vivix bits into the vents of Chase’s helmet. He sneezed just as Heckyl stepped up to face him. 

“That’s disgusting.” Heckyl said with a twisted up nose as he observed Chase from a safe distance. The alien looked uncertain of Chase after the sneeze, as if he might be afraid he could catch whatever Chase might be diseased with. 

“Yeah well,” Chase wished he could rub at his still tingling nose, “It’s not half as disgusting as your plan!” 

“Ah, the insults.” Heckyl rolled his eyes and seemed to deflate a little. “So redundant.” 

“What, we’re not boring you, are we?” Chase asked playfully before he jumped into battle against Heckyl. It was clear after Chase landed the first hit that Heckyl really wasn’t into the fight. Something seemed to be wrong, but Chase had no idea what or if it was a good thing for Earth in general, or a bad thing. 

It definitely seemed like a bad thing for Heckyl who slowly got up as Chase stood by and watched. 

“Are you sick or something?” Chase asked hesitantly. On some level Chase knew he shouldn’t be questioning his fortune and that he should destroy Heckyl while he had the opportunity, but it didn’t seem right to kick a guy – literally – when he was already down. 

“No.” Heckyl said simply and held his hand out as it started to glow blue with magical electricity. Chase shrugged and readied himself to continue the fight when a flash of light caught both the black power ranger and Heckyl’s attention. 

A creature appeared from the light and stood in front of the two. 

“Chase?” Shelby called just as the creature’s sharp face twisted into a wicked smile. 

“It’s been a while.” The creature said, its words directed to Heckyl. 

“Friend of yours?” Chase asked, but felt a turning in his gut that felt wrong. This new creature-alien-thing had a dangerous vibe about him. More dangerous than Heckyl seemed to be, anyway. 

“Hardly.” Heckyl answered Chase, the alien’s full attention on the creature that had joined them. “What do you want Port?” 

“You and your other half to suffer.” Port said and then pulled out a glowing stick-thing and zapped the air behind Heckyl and Chase. 

Chase turned and watched as the air started to turn and swirl with new energy. Wisely Chase took a half step back before the air started to shift and pull. It was already too late to run, call for help or do just about anything. 

“Chase!” Tyler’s voice shouted over the rush of sound as Chase was lifted off his feet and sucked into the twisting light. The world brightened before it turned dark as Chase and Heckyl were pulled into the hole in space. 

There was no sound in the void. Chase opened his mouth to scream and it was like the sound was nullified. Gone. He could hear the rushing of blood in his veins and the pounding of his heartbeat in his chest. 

Then – darkness. 

__

Chase woke with a gasp – instantly panicked. It was hard to breathe, like someone was pressing down on his chest. 

Above him the sky was a rusty orange color. Disoriented Chase blinked up at the moving sky. The clouds were wispy purple-grey, shifting shapes as they passed slowly overhead. 

Chase’s body felt numb and heavy, too heavy to move. He was too tired to think. It took Chase several drawn out minutes to realize he was no longer morphed. He felt drained. 

The strange world around him started to spin as Chase attempted to move and failed. With a short groan Chase slipped back into the safe arms of sleep.

When Chase woke up next he heard birds singing in the distance. He still couldn’t move and he still felt sick to his stomach from all the spinning he had experienced prior to passing out. 

Gravity helped tip Chase’s head to the side. Sprawled out not too far away on his stomach was Heckyl. The alien was greyish blue in color and didn’t look like he was moving, let alone breathing. Chase wasn’t even sure the alien was still alive. Judging by how awful Chase felt after their little trip through – whatever that thing had been – Heckyl probably was equally or more effected by what happened. 

Still hopelessly weak, Chase’s eyes slipped closed again. 

__

The next time Chase pried his eyes open he focused his blurry vision on Heckyl’s crumpled form. The alien didn’t appear to have moved from the last time Chase had been conscious. Chase felt a ping of worry as he managed to roll over onto his own stomach and glance around the clearing they were stuck in. 

It was darker than the last time he opened his eyes. The air was heavy with dark purple light streaming from what Chase assumed was a moon or stars. The world started to spin again and Chase gagged from the uncontrollable motion. He must have been unconscious for longer than he thought, because nothing came out of his hollow stomach. 

When the nausea passed Chase moved his arms awkwardly underneath his body and pushed himself up into a kneeling position. His stomach turned again and he groaned with his eyes closed and wondered if it would be poor judgment to willingly fall back asleep. Being awake really wasn’t worth it. 

“Heckyl.” Chase managed to whisper – his voice hoarse. 

There was no response, but honestly Chase wasn’t expecting it. Slowly, carefully Chase crawled his way over to Heckyl’s side and placed a shaky hand on the alien’s cold shoulder. “Heck – Heckyl? Come on, mate, give me a sign here.” 

Heckyl groaned. 

“Thank goodness.” Chase leaned over the alien and rested his head against Heckyl’s back. He could feel the alien breathing, ever so slightly. Heckyl was alive and although he wasn’t the most ideal person to be stuck with in – wherever they were – Chase was happy not to be alone in such a strange place. 

Of course that relief might be short lived when Heckyl was up and feeling better. 

Exhausted Chase gave in and laid down on the ground next to the unconscious alien. He fought sleep for a moment before falling into oblivion.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading!

It took a while for Chase to be well enough to stand up and explore the area. The odd colors of the sky changed to more ‘normal’ colors as the effects of planet-hopping or time-traveling started to wear off. Chase honestly wasn’t sure what had happened, but he definitely wasn’t in Amber Beach anymore. The air even had a different feel to it and a different fragrance. It wasn’t unpleasant, but definitely strange and unfamiliar. 

Although the colors had mostly ‘normalized,’ things were still strange and otherworldly. Chase was taking it all in stride as much as he could. 

Heckyl and Chase were alone, none of the other rangers appeared to be sent to, well, wherever they had ended up. The person or alien, Port, who had sent them through the swirly hole of strange didn’t appear to be around either. Chase really wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or a very, very bad thing. 

Carefully Chase pulled his energem free from his shirt and examined it closely. The usually black gem was far lighter in color, almost a dull slate-grey that held no shimmer or shine. Chase didn’t feel any power radiating from the gem and he was worried that the portal-thing had somehow destroyed the crystal. 

Chase hoped that the energem was only drained of energy, like he had been when he had first awakened. Maybe the more powerful or energy-filled a person or object was the more energy was sucked out of them during transport. 

Not being a scientist or considered overly smart, Chase couldn’t be sure. 

Whatever had happened to his energem, Chase couldn’t fix it. At least not right away. He hoped that eventually the energem would regain its power. 

Chase held onto that thought. He was a positive kind of guy most of the time and honestly didn’t want to dwell on the possibility that he was stuck somewhere that oozed strangeness with his injured alien enemy and didn’t have any hope of defending himself. 

As far as Chase could tell they weren’t on Earth. Or at least, they weren’t on the Earth that Chase knew. Chase figured he’d learn more from Heckyl, if Heckyl ever woke up. 

Chase was starving. He would kill for a pizza, if there were pizzas wherever they were. He kind of doubted it. Positivity only got someone so far. 

There were a few options of vegetation around. Trees and bushes with flowers and berries. Nothing looked remotely familiar. 

“I guess this could be poisonous.” Chase muttered to himself as he stared at the pinkish berries. “Great, I’m going to die from starvation. Typical.” He remembered when he was stuck in a hallway when that puzzle monster attacked them. He remembered freezing and thinking he was going to starve to death because he’d dropped the pizza earlier – it was a little ridiculous. 

Of course, Riley had come through and gotten them all out. 

Riley wasn’t around this time. Chase had to save himself. 

And he apparently had to save Heckyl too. 

Well, if Heckyl didn’t kill Chase in the process. Chase slowly turned to look at the unconscious alien and saw blue eyes watching him. Not so unconscious then, Chase smirked. 

“Heckyl.” Chase whispered and shifted a little as he eyed the alien. He was half ready for an attack even though it was clear that Heckyl was in no condition to stand let alone start a fight. 

“Ranger.” Heckyl muttered and closed his eyes again. 

“So, you’re alive.” Chase said and moved to kneel next to the alien. 

“It appears – so.” Heckyl moaned and clawed a little at the dirt. “Port?” 

“Haven’t seen him.” Chase answered. “I don’t think he came with us – to this place. Wherever we are.” 

“Another world.” Heckyl whispered. “It’s – it’s his thing. Annoying bastard.” 

Chase honestly wasn’t sure who Heckyl was calling annoying, but he decided to assume that Heckyl was talking about Port.

“Is there something I can do to help you?” Chase asked hesitantly. 

“Leave me alone.” Heckyl snapped harshly, eyes still closed. “Go!” 

Chase startled at the ferocity of Heckyl’s words and stood back up. Chase held his fists tight at his side and nodded sharply. “Fine. If that’s what you want. Don’t say I didn’t offer.” With a shrug Chase took a step back and then turned away from the alien. 

It was harder than Chase thought it would be – walking away. Maybe it was because Chase was a good guy. Good guys didn’t leave people behind and they definitely didn’t leave a guy to fend for themselves when they were obviously hurting and sick. 

But Chase had offered to help and Heckyl had very clearly turned the help down. 

And yet…

Shaking his head Chase pushed through the strange foliage of stranger trees and bushes. Heckyl had said they were in another world. That was wild and more than a little crazy. Chase had thought he had been prepared for just about anything. 

Wrong. 

If this had happened to Shelby or Riley or even Kendall they probably would have figured out a way to get back to Earth already. Chase had no clue what to do or even where to start. He didn’t have an idea of how to even attempt to get back home. 

Chase was a lot of things – dashing, clever, kind – but he wasn’t a scientist of any kind. He wasn’t smart. Not like the others. It had never really bothered Chase before, but now he wished he had paid more attention when the geniuses of the group started talking. Maybe then he’d have a clue on how to get home. 

Or maybe the geniuses would be just as lost as the air headed skater was. 

__

After a short trek through the woods Chase stumbled across a cave that looked like a promising shelter. The idea of sleeping in a cave instead of his nice cozy apartment wasn’t ideal, but Chase could make due with what he had. It was better than a clearing out in the middle of nowhere, anyway. 

It didn’t take long for Chase to fully explore the small cave. Quickly it became apparent that it wasn’t the home of a large, ferocious otherworldly animal, which was good news if Chase had ever heard it. 

Or, well, thought it. 

A crack of sound made the black ranger jump and turn towards the mouth of the cave. Rain started to fall from the sky and Chase felt his stomach twist a little as he thought of Heckyl alone in the clearing. 

Unable to move. 

Defenseless. 

“He doesn’t want help.” Chase reminded himself, but he frowned and sighed loudly. “But I’m going to help him anyway.” He decided and took off his shirt and left it far enough in the back of the cave that it wouldn’t get wet. 

Chase took a deep breath and stepped out into the freezing rain and headed back towards the clearing and Heckyl. 

__

When the rain started to fall Heckyl figured it was the cinnamon sprinkles on top of the crap cupcake that was his life. Things had not been going well for him lately and Portal showing up was not a splendid surprise. Of course, it also wasn’t exactly shocking either. 

Snide had pissed the jumper off spectacularly the last time they had met and retribution was always a possibility. 

Heckyl never thought that such retribution would end with him trapped in a distant land with the most pesky and annoying power ranger on Earth. Out of the entire group Chase was Heckyl’s least favorite. The man was cocky, idiotic and pretentious to the point of absolute intolerability. 

At least the ranger had left when Heckyl had demanded it. In retrospect Heckyl probably should feel something like gratitude given that the ranger hadn’t destroyed him when he had the chance. 

Chase had never been very bright. 

The rain was cold and quickly drenched Heckyl’s clothes as it started to fall harder. 

Footsteps sounded nearby and Heckyl turned his head the best he could to face the new potential threat. 

Chase appeared, shirtless and slightly out of breath with soggy hair and worried eyes. 

Worried. Huh.

“I know you don’t want help,” Chase said with hands out in a not-a-threat gesture. “But I also doubt you want to catch your death in the rain.” 

Heckyl eyed the man with a sharp glare, but didn’t protest as the ranger slowly made his way closer and supported Heckyl’s weight with his own strength. 

“You’re a fool.” Heckyl whispered as Chase started to mostly carry Heckyl through the forest. “I will still destroy you – don’t think this makes us friends.” 

“Okay.” Chase nodded with a slow and lopsided smile. It wasn’t a happy smile, more knowing than anything else. Like he accepted that helping Heckyl would probably lead to his own demise. Heckyl truly believed he would never understand humans. They were idiots. Chase was an idiot. 

Heckyl was going to enjoy killing the smug bastard.


	3. Chapter 3

The walk back to the cave took much longer than it had without having to carry Heckyl’s deadweight. Heckyl was in no condition to help Chase, in fact, the alien was in and out of consciousness as they trekked along. 

When the two finally arrived at the cave it had stopped raining, but both Chase and Heckyl were already soaked to the bone. Carefully Chase laid Heckyl down and considered how to help the alien. He didn’t know alien anatomy or if being damp and cold would make Heckyl sick, but he didn’t really want to risk it either. 

Sure Heckyl would likely kill Chase in the long run, but Chase figured he was going to die either way. At least if he helped Heckyl one of them would survive. It was the principle of the matter anyway. Saving Heckyl was the right thing to do.

Maybe. 

Carefully Chase maneuvered Heckyl’s drenched trench coat and undershirt off his torso, revealing greyish blue skin. It didn’t particularly look healthy. The alien was shivering pretty badly from the chill, but Chase decided to leave Heckyl’s pants on, afraid that perhaps alien’s didn’t wear any kind of underwear and not really wanting Heckyl to wake up just as he started to unbuckle his belt. 

Talk about awkward. 

Chase did unlace and slip off Heckyl’s boots and wet socks and removed his own and lined them up together along the wall near the entrance of the cave. 

Task complete, Chase sat down and took a moment to catch his breath. He still felt weak from whatever happened to them. Clearly he was recovering faster than Heckyl, but he wasn’t exactly one hundred percent yet. 

After a short break Chase went out into the woods and gathered things to build a small fire pit and a small something to help dry out their clothes. Chase might not be science-smart, but he was resourceful and creative and didn’t find it overly hard to set everything up. 

Starting the fire proved to be challenging. Striking stones together didn’t create a spark, probably because they weren’t the right kind. Rubbing sticks together was too time consuming and Chase was pretty sure he was doing that wrong as well. 

A little disheartened Chase sat back and considered his options. They needed to get warm and dry so they wouldn’t get sick. Or, Heckyl needed to get warm and dry, Chase was pretty much all set from moving around so much. Heckyl, however, was still shivering and pale. 

Maybe there was some sort of village nearby or city where Chase could buy some matches. Not that he had any money, or really anything of value with the exception of his energem. 

He could figure it out though. 

It was worth a shot. 

Chase stood and pulled on his mostly dry shirt and glanced at Heckyl as he put on his damp socks and soggy skate shoes. He couldn’t just leave Heckyl without telling the alien where he was going. Currently there was no trust between them. They were enemies, but if Chase played his cards right maybe they could at least work together as long as they were trapped in this place. 

Or Heckyl would kill him in his sleep.

Chase shook that particular possibility away and stood up and made his way over to Heckyl’s side.

Carefully Chase knelt next to the sleeping alien and placed his hand on Heckyl’s shoulder. “Heckyl.” Chase whispered. Blue eyes snapped open and immediately glared up at Chase. “I’m going to try and explore the area a bit. I’ll be back soon.” 

“I won’t hold my breath.” Heckyl snarled. 

“I’ll be back.” Chase promised as he stood up and walked out of the cave. Heckyl was well within his rights to not trust Chase. Hell, Chase would be lying if he said he trusted Heckyl, but they were in this mess together. They had better odds of survival if they worked as a team. 

Chase had always been an optimist. Maybe by the end of their little adventure Heckyl would have a change of heart. 

If Heckyl had a heart at all. 

Time would tell.

__

Chase wasn’t a woodsy guy. He had a natural obsession for adventure and was a bit of an adrenaline junkie, but he wasn’t a fan of camping. Perhaps if he had gone with the guys on their camping trips more often he wouldn’t feel so lost in his current situation. 

He walked for a good hour or so before he stumbled across what appeared to be a road. 

“Yes!” Chase cheered and glanced down at his watch. He had no idea what the actual time was on this world, but he figured he could go a little bit further before he needed to turn around and go back. Chase just hoped he’d be able to follow his trail back to Heckyl without any trouble. 

The mud would help, although Chase was mildly annoyed at how dirty his best skate shoes had gotten. 

“You there,” A deep voice called and Chase looked over to see a strange looking alien like creature coming towards him. “You look lost.” 

Chase looked the creature up and down and decided that it looked like a skinny bear with more feathers than fur. 

“You could say that.” Chase agreed with a sheepish grin. “I’m sort of new to these parts. Is there a town nearby? A city?” 

“There’s a village just down the way.” The feathered bear said with a smile that would likely live in Chase’s nightmares for a while. The creature didn’t seem to be a threat of any kind, which was good given that Chase was pretty much defenseless. Sure, he’d fight, but even though Chase was an optimist at heart he knew when he was outmatched. He was definitely outmatched if the creature’s claws were any hint. 

“Awesome.” Chase lit up a bit and glanced down the road. He hoped he could find a way to trade quickly or at least figure out what was valuable. 

“Are you looking to trade?” The stranger asked curiously. 

Chase turned his attention back to the feathered bear and nodded. “Yes, I was looking for a way to start a fire to keep my friend warm. We got caught in the storm earlier and he is a bit, uh, sensitive.” Chase shrugged. “I’m Chase, by the way.” He held out his hand in typical earthling greeting. 

The feather bear eyed the hand, but stuck his paw out in turn and clasped his claws gently around Chase’s fingers. The size difference was disconcerting, but Chase didn’t falter with his smile. So far the feather bear was being incredibly helpful. 

“And I am called Yannie.” Feather bear introduced himself. “If it’s flint and steel you seek I might be able to trade with you. For a price, of course.” 

“I don’t have any money on me.” Chase said worriedly. “But I can work if you need help with anything. I’m strong enough – ” 

“No, no help.” Yannie said and eyed Chase from head to toe. “This, what is it?” The creature asked, pointing a clawed finger at Chase’s wristwatch. 

“Oh, it tells time.” Chase said. “At least, it tells the time where I’m from.” He added with a little frown. Chloe, his little sister, had given the watch to him as a going away present before he left New Zealand to go with Kendall. Chase rarely took it off. It was a little piece of home. 

“It will suffice for such a trade.” Yannie said and held out his paw for the item. 

Chase hesitated, but thought of Heckyl and how cold the alien had been when he had left him. Chase knew he really couldn’t wait for a better deal, because there was a chance that one wouldn’t come. 

“Okay.” Chase agreed and slipped the watch off of his wrist and handed it over to Yannie. 

Yannie smiled that sharp, twisted smile again and reached into his pack and pulled out what Chase guessed was flint and a little square of steel. “Do you know how to use these items?” 

Chase winced and shook his head. “Not really. I guess you hit them together, right?” 

“Yes,” Yannie grinned again. “Allow me to show you.” 

Chase’s new friend did a little demonstration and Chase grinned in return. “Thank you.” He said and pocketed his new belongings. “Do you live in the village?” 

“No.” Yannie shook his head. “I will be there for a time though. I have many trades to make.” 

“Cool.” Chase nodded and glanced up at the sky. It was getting darker again. “Maybe I’ll see you around.” 

“I hope we can make many more trades.” Yannie nodded and gave a little bow before he started to lumber off in the direction of the village. 

Chase watched for a moment before he headed back in the direction he came from. It took him a little longer to make it back to the cave and by the time he arrived it was well into the night. The sounds of the forest had grown rather eerie and Chase was more than a little relieved when the mouth of the cave came into view. 

Exhausted he entered the cave and found Heckyl right where he left him. Carefully Chase took out his new toys and struck them together, sparking a flame in the kindling he had collected before he left earlier. After some trial and error he had a decent sized fire going and noticed that Heckyl was watching him. 

“Where did you get those?” Heckyl asked as his eyes sparkled sapphire in the firelight. 

“Made a trade.” Chase said with a wide yawn. “Figured we needed a little heat.” Chase grinned. 

“Your watch.” Heckyl frowned. “That’s what you traded.” 

“Figured we needed fire more than we needed to tell time.” Chase shrugged and stood. “I’m going to go back tomorrow and see if I can figure out what we can use for money. I have no idea what’s edible around here either. I don’t know about you, but I’m starving.” 

“I don’t require food as often as humans.” Heckyl snorted and closed his eyes again. Chase wasn’t sure if it was the orange glow of the fire or if Heckyl’s color looked a little better. 

Either way it seemed like a win. Heckyl would at least warm up a bit and so would Chase. 

Feeling pretty good about the day, Chase laid himself down and fell asleep near the fire pit he had built.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for dropping by! 
> 
> TBC


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Boom....
> 
> Warnings: Mentions of blood and violent illness

The next morning Chase felt a little stiff, but energetic enough for a run. He was stretching when Heckyl opened his eyes. 

“What are you doing?” Heckyl asked with an eyebrow raised to emphasize his annoyance in being disturbed. 

“Going for a run.” Chase shrugged. “I figured I’d head back to the village and see if I can figure out a way we can survive here. We need to figure out what we can trade for food and maybe some blankets.”

“We?” Heckyl snorted.

“Well, yeah.” Chase grinned. “We’re stuck together, might as well work together.” 

Heckyl rolled his eyes, but paled. Eye-rolls were probably not the best idea in his fragile condition. Chase winced in sympathy.

“We need to go back.” Heckyl pointed out after taking a brief moment to recover. “Not nesting together her in this blasted cave.” 

Chase nodded at that. “Well, obviously. I figure I’ll shop around for any information I can get – means of world-hopping included, but in the meantime I’d like to be comfortable.”

Heckyl answered by closing his eyes and surprised Chase by turning his back to him. 

“I see you are feeling a little better.” Chase nodded with a bobble of his head before he finished his series of stretches and started to inch towards the entrance of the cave. “That’s good. Well, I’ll be back. Don’t have too much fun without me!” 

Chase heard a little snort come from where Heckyl was laying, but he couldn’t be sure if it had been Heckyl or his imagination. With a shrug Chase started out in an easy jog towards the village. This time he planned on marking the trail a little better so that it would be easier to travel back and forth and not get lost. 

Due to the fact that it had rained the previous day Chase’s footprints were still visible, which helped guide Chase as he ran through the woods. He marked a few trees with a chalky rock he found until he made it to the road. Not wanting to overthink the situation he might walk into, Chase headed down the road at a slow pace until he spotted the village. 

It was impressive. There were rows of vendors and tents set up just inside the gates of the village. People, well aliens, were weaving around one another going from tent to tent trading goods and information. Some looked almost humanoid, others looked like various forms of monstrous animals Chase recognized and some he didn’t. 

Chase kept an eye out for Yannie. The bear creature seemed willing enough to help him out, but didn’t see him among the crowd. 

“Are you lost, little one?” A sickly sweet feminine voice asked as Chase walked by two large brick buildings. As far as Chase could see the buildings in the center of the village were the only ones around. 

Chase turned and spotted the creature who had spoken, although he couldn’t tell what gender it was from outside appearance. It was tall and lean with short violet fur. The face was narrow and it had dark horns like antlers sticking out from the sides of its head. Although lacking curves, Chase figured it was female, although he didn’t want to stereotype. 

“Just exploring.” Chase said with an easy smile. 

The creature tipped it’s head a bit, it’s large black eyes blinked as it watched Chase shift his weight from his right foot to his left. “Are you here to trade?” It asked curiously. 

“Sort of.” Chase nodded. “I want to learn what I can trade.” 

“Most things are not hard to find on our planet.” The antlered creature said. “Metals are the most valuable. The most rare.” 

“Metal?” Chase echoed and thought back to his watch. He had a sinking feeling it was far more valuable than what Yannie paid for it. Although the steel was a type of metal too, so Chase wasn’t sure. Oh well, it was over and done with. No regrets and no take backs. “Good to know.” Chase smiled brightly. “I’m Chase.” 

“And I am Aurora.” The antlered creature said with a nod of it’s long face. “There is something that you have that is very valuable.” The creature said carefully. 

Chase blinked and wondered if he could trust Aurora as far as he could throw her. Which admittedly wouldn’t be far without his energem to lend him strenght. “Oh?” 

“Iron.” Aurora said and inhaled deeply. “I can smell it in your blood.” 

“You want my blood?” Chase took a step back. “Um.” 

“You wanted to know what you could trade.” Aurora said with a shrug of its slim shoulder. “If you need anything desperately enough come to me, I will give you a fair deal.” 

“I don’t know if you know this,” Chase said awkwardly. “But I kind of need my blood.” 

“Not all of it. Your kind makes donations, do they not?” Aurora chuckled lightly. 

“Yeah, I guess.” Chase frowned, still not liking the idea. “This kind of a deal isn’t for me, but I suppose it’s nice of you to offer.” Even though Chase never planned on accepting the deal. Nothing was worth being sucked dry by a strange alien-thing. 

“You will come to me. Eventually.” Aurora said with a nod. “I will be here when you need me.” 

With a frown Chase decided he was done exploring the village for the moment and slipped back into the crowd. He left Aurora and the other aliens behind and headed at a much slower pace back to the cave. He felt exhausted and his stomach was hollow from lack of food. Chase still wasn’t certain what he could eat and didn’t particularly want to guess and die. 

There were things that looked edible enough. Chase picked a few berries off a bush and examined them carefully. He decided not to eat them, but he’d bring them back to the cave. Maybe Heckyl would know if they were safe to eat. Along the way Chase also found some strange looking fruit and other berries to add to his collection. 

He was so hungry by the time he reached the cave that he almost nibbled on one of the berries, but thought better of it. 

“Honey, I’m home!” Chase greeted cheerfully. Heckyl barely raised his head, but still managed to glare at Chase. The alien brightened, however, when he saw what Chase was holding. 

“Where did you find those?” Heckyl asked as he lowered his head to the ground. 

Chase knelt down by the immobile alien and spread out his stash on the floor of the cave. “I picked these on my way back.” Chase grinned. “Do you know if any of these are edible?” 

Heckyl studied each berry and fruit with a critical eye and reached a shaky hand out and snatched a light blue fruit and shoved it into his mouth faster than Chase could process. 

“I guess you like those.” Chase smiled. “I can get more of them tomorrow. The tree wasn’t very far from here.” 

Heckyl eyed Chase again, but nodded. “I wouldn’t eat these.” Heckyl said and pointed to both types of berries Chase found. “They’ll kill you faster than you can blink.” 

Chase picked up the berries and tossed them into the lowly burning fire. “Good to know.” Chase sighed. “So I guess the thing to trade around here is metal. I don’t suppose you have any on you?” 

“My timepiece.” Heckyl whispered. 

“Gone.” Chase sighed. “I think it got lost in the swirling-portal thing.” 

Heckyl closed his eyes unhappily. Not that the timepiece had meant that much to him. It only served as a reminder of Snide. 

Chase picked up the remaining blue fruit. “Do you think this is okay for me to eat? You know, as a human?” 

Heckyl narrowed his eyes for a moment and shrugged. “I have no idea what would be poisonous for such a fragile race.” 

It wasn’t a straight answer and Chase felt his heart drop a little. He was hungry. Starving. If he was going to keep running back and forth from the cave to the village he would need his strength. He looked at the fruit and made a choice. He’d risk it. Heckyl ate it and Heckyl looked pretty human, even if he wasn’t. 

“Well, here goes nothing.” Chase announced and raised the fruit to Heckyl in a salute before he bit into it. It tasted sweet, but not sickly so. It almost tasted like a peach crossed with a pear. Crisp and fresh. “Mm, it is good. Maybe I’ll go back and get some before nightfall.” 

Heckyl just snorted and closed his eyes, like he was too good for the conversation. 

Chase finished off the fruit and went to stand when the world tilted dangerously and his stomach turned. “Or – uh,” a rush of heat filled Chase’s body and he stumbled to the entrance of the cave as the fruit started to burn its way back up his throat. 

__

Heckyl opened his eyes when the ranger started to make a terrible noise. He glanced over in the direction of the human, now at the front of the cave. The ranger looked violently ill. 

“Well, I guess it was poisonous to humans.” Heckyl chuckled airily, his heart really not in it. Although the fruit had been a pleasant surprise to him, he still felt horribly weak. More than horrible. He felt like he had been ripped in two and instead of an instant death he was slowly, agonizingly bleeding out. 

The alien supposed he wasn’t too far off the mark. Snide was gone. Destroyed in the portal. Heckyl was glad his other half was gone, but he also didn’t want to die and dying he was. Dying with a ranger nearby just seemed to add salt to injury, or however the saying went. 

At least the human was suffering too.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ta DA! 
> 
> (I'm so sick right now it isn't even funny...ugh...)
> 
> Enjoy! 
> 
> (I hope it makes sense...)

Heckyl felt like he was being burned alive and sucked out into the cold vastness of space all at the same time. 

This was death. This was the end. 

He groaned and felt a hand on his arm, gentle and soothing. He peeled open his eyes and felt the air stab at the blue orbs like a thousand needles. 

Pain. Agony. 

It was a fitting way to go, Heckyl supposed. He had done many horrible things when Snide had been apart of him. Willingly or not, Heckyl had destroyed countless lives and caused nearly unending havoc on innocent people. 

Innocent. 

Heckyl had been innocent once. He had wanted to protect the world from darkness and that naivety was what had caused him to fall into darkness himself. 

Evil. Heckyl knew the word described him and his actions since his interaction with the dark energem. 

There had been a hope, however slim, that uniting all of the energems together would have freed him from his curse and restored his planet – the one he himself had destroyed. 

No, it had been Snide. Snide had done such terrible things and had influenced his mind. 

How much of Snide’s influence would survive even after he was gone? Heckyl didn’t know. He wasn’t even sure he cared anymore. All he wanted, all he could hope for was that the fire and ice would consume him quickly. Heckyl might not deserve a swift end, but he wasn’t certain how much more he could take. 

“What can I do?” The ranger’s scratchy voice scrapped against the wall of agony. 

“Kill me.” Heckyl said. Begged. He begged as he clutched weakly at the ranger’s hand. “Kill me. Kill me.” 

“I – I can’t do that.” The bastard said. He sounded broken up about his decision. Like he wasn’t sure what was right or wrong in their current situation. 

Heckyl hated the black ranger a little bit more because of it. 

“I’ll kill you.” Heckyl promised bitterly and lost himself in the next wave of pain. 

__

Chase wasn’t sure what had gone wrong. Heckyl had seemed to be getting better the previous day, but now, now it was clear that Heckyl was in dire need of help. Help that Chase couldn’t give the alien – at least not alone. 

“I don’t know what to do.” Chase whispered and wrung his hands together as he paced the cave. Heckyl had passed out again after threatening to kill Chase for not ending his suffering. 

Killing Heckyl while he was so defenseless just seemed wrong. Inhuman. Chase couldn’t do it. Chase couldn’t kill someone with his bare hands. He couldn’t end Heckyl’s existence when there was still a chance to save him. 

The ranger’s mind went back to the village and the strange creature named Aurora. 

“I can live without some of my blood.” Chase whispered as he paced and shook his head. It was a terrible idea. The worst. He was going to regret it. Heckyl wasn’t worth the trouble.

Don’t do it, Chase’s mind screamed at him. 

Chase looked back at the alien and saw him twitching and withering as he tried to escape the obvious pain that held him. 

“I can’t.” Chase whimpered, but started to gather Heckyl up and lifted him into a fireman’s carry. “I can’t just watch you die.” He breathed and started to head back towards the village. 

The sun was still rising and the orange sky looked dusty pink in hue. Chase felt weak from his bout of fruit poisoning, but his determination kept him on track. It took a lot longer to arrive at the village and it was already bustling with people and creatures alike. 

Some of the creatures looked at him oddly as he passed with Heckyl across his shoulder. Chase paid them no second look. He was on a quest and wouldn’t rest until a deal was struck with Aurora and Heckyl was safe. 

“Little one,” Aurora greeted, still in front of the brick building, waiting for him just as she had promised. 

Chase was only slightly unnerved by the sight of her. He wondered if she had some sort of foresight that she had known he’d come back, or if she waited for others desperate enough to take her deal. 

“My friend needs a doctor.” Chase told the antlered creature. 

“So I see.” Aurora nodded. “Are you willing to pay the price?” 

“Maybe. I don’t exactly want to die either.” Chase said stubbornly. “If you can promise that he will be taken care of and live and that I will survive the process of, whatever it is you want to do to me, we can talk.” 

“He will survive.” Aurora said after a moment. “As will you. I will allow you time to see to his recovery before your first donation. It will allow you time to gather your strength, little one. I will only ask for a reasonable amount. Three donations should suffice. This time.” 

“Three?” Chase was a little surprised at the low amount. He couldn’t argue that the deal wasn’t fair. “If he survives and if you take care of him, feed him, help him, whatever – I’ll give you the three donations.” Chase nodded and held out his hand, but hesitated. “I’ll survive?” 

“Yes.” Aurora promised in a voice that was understanding and kind. 

It was almost more worrisome than Heckyl’s violent threats. 

“Alright,” Chase took a sharp breath. “We’ve got a deal.” 

__

Aurora led Chase into one of the brick buildings. It wasn’t unlike an earth building. There were rooms divided by walls filled with furniture. Nothing overly exciting. Nothing was really colorful or cheery, it sort of reminded Chase of a low budget hospital. 

“This will be your space.” Aurora said and motioned Chase to a door. Carefully balancing Heckyl on his shoulder Chase reached out and turned the knob of the door and pushed it open. 

It looked like an apartment – sort of. There was one large space with two beds and a table off to the side with two chairs. Another door led to what Chase assumed and hoped was a bathroom of some sort. Peeing in the woods was getting a little old. 

“Set him down when you are ready.” Aurora said with a little airy chuckle that Chase found mildly insulting. Even still he laid Heckyl out on the bed closest to him and arranged Heckyl in a way that at least looked comfortable. 

“When will the doctor arrive?” Chase asked, but when he turned to look at Aurora she was gone. “Of course.” Chase pouted a little. The door was also shut and Chase had a sinking feeling that it was locked from the outside, but stubbornly decided not to check. If he didn’t know he was trapped he could pretend everything wasn’t about to go to hell. 

At least for a little while longer. 

Chase turned back to Heckyl and swallowed thickly. He reached over and gently brushed his fingers across Heckyl’s forehead. The alien was hot to the touch and Chase’s gut twisted with worry. 

With a little shake of his head Chase forced himself to wobble over to the table and chairs and dragged one of the chairs closer to Heckyl’s bedside and sat down, propping his feet up on the corner of Heckyl’s bed. 

All he could do was wait and hope that he hadn’t made a horrible mistake making a deal with Aurora. 

__

Aurora returned a little while later with a tray of various things that didn’t really look like anything medical. 

“I thought you might like some food,” The antlered creature offered. 

“You said you’d help him.” Chase said accusingly as he jumped up onto his feet and promptly fell over when the universe started to spin uncontrollably. 

“Yes,” Aurora said with a little sigh that sounded a lot like Chase’s step-mother when she thought he was being childish. “I promised he would be looked after. He will be. However, our deal means nothing if you are not strong enough for the donation.” 

“Get him help,” Chase groaned a little, still on his knees next to Heckyl’s bed. “Then we’ll talk.” 

“As you wish.” Aurora said, but left the tray of apparent food on the table before retreating out the door and leaving Chase alone with Heckyl. 

“I wish for a lot of things.” Chase muttered to himself and leaned over Heckyl. Even though he hadn’t eaten in three days and felt terribly weak, he couldn’t bring himself to eat anything. Not until Heckyl wasn’t withering on a bed in a brick building filled with strangers and new potential threats. 

The door opened again and Aurora was joined by a shorter humanoid creature who looked at Chase with a raised eyebrow. “Which one is my patient?” he asked in a way that suggested that he knew, but he was trying to make a point. 

Chase figured he did probably look like crap, but carefully stood to give the doctor, or who he assumed was a doctor, space to work. 

The man, or alien, looked over Heckyl carefully and laid his hands on either side of Heckyl’s face and closed his golden colored eyes.

Chase wanted to ask what the doctor was doing, but he also didn’t want to break the man’s concentration. Or piss him off. 

“A great part of this man has been destroyed.” The doctor said finally. “I can help him recover, but it will be a slow process. He will have to learn to live with the void inside of him or find a way to fill it on his own. However, I can heal him.” 

Chase nearly collapsed with a mixture of relief and worry. What had been destroyed? Then it hit him, Snide. Snide hadn’t made an appearance and now that Chase was paying attention he noted that the tattoo on Heckyl’s neck was gone. 

Snide was gone. Dead. 

It was hard to tell if that was amazing news or if Heckyl’s crazy would be less restrained. 

The doctor left the room, possibly to go fetch whatever he needed to help Heckyl, but Aurora stayed behind and moved to stand next to the tray of forgotten food. 

“You should eat, little one.” The creature suggested. “You’ll need your strength for the journey ahead. If you remain weak you will not be able to help your friend.” 

“He – he isn’t really my friend.” Chase said, still focused on Heckyl’s trembling form. “Where we come from we’re actually enemies.” 

A small snort caught his attention and Chase looked at Aurora. “I think I’d like an enemy like you, little one.” Aurora said and held out a bowl of something that smelled divine. It looked kind of like rice and a mixture of strange veggies. 

“How do you know this won’t kill me?” Chase asked as he carefully took the bowl in a shaky hand. 

“I know many things.” Aurora nodded and offered him something that looked sort of like a spork. 

“Okay.” Chase said and sat down, too tired to stand or fight or resist. He glanced at Heckyl again before he dipped the spoon-fork thing into the ‘food’ and began to slowly eat. 

“Take your time.” Aurora said as the doctor reentered the room. He had a wooden tray with him and set it up so Chase could observe everything he was doing. He poured a few liquids down Heckyl’s throat and rubbed some sort of lotion on Heckyl’s neck and hands. 

“What is that?” Chase couldn’t help but ask. 

“A way to help him heal.” The doctor said vaguely and nodded at his work. “I will return tomorrow and repeat the process. Sit with your friend and help him come to terms with his loss.” 

Chase nodded, not up to mention that he and Heckyl weren’t exactly friends to another stranger. He also wasn’t sure that Heckyl would feel sad about Snide being destroyed, but Chase didn’t really know Heckyl. 

Heckyl had pretended to be their friend in the beginning. Chase had actually thought Heckyl was a pretty cool guy. Funny and a little corky. After the betrayal, or, reveal that Heckyl and Snide were the same person it had been strange. Chase felt sad when he worked in the café and Heckyl wasn’t around. 

Shaking his head Chase looked at the bowl and found it was empty. He had eaten the entire thing during his musing. 

“Good.” Aurora praised and gently took the bowl from Chase’s hand. “Rest.” She offered and left the room, leaving a large glass of water behind. 

Chase watched the door click shut and waited for a few moments before he got up and rested his hand on the doorknob. With a deep breath he readied himself before he checked to see if the door was locked. 

It was. 

Typical.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading!

Heckyl drifted. He was no longer lost in the cold fire, but floating in a pleasant sea of warmth and comfort. It was odd not to have his head filled with such unending darkness. It was odd to not feel overstuffed – to feel normal. Like he had felt before Snide. 

Slowly Heckyl opened his eyes, fully expecting to be stuck in some miserable afterlife. Death was the only thing that made sense in his current situation. 

When his eyes landed on that blasted black ranger, ‘death’ no longer made any sense. “I’m alive.” Heckyl croaked painfully through a dry throat. 

“Hold on.” Chase said quietly and went to fetch something.

Heckyl looked around the space and realized they were no longer in the cave. It looked like they were back on earth, but Heckyl quickly dismissed that thought as quickly as it popped in his head. If they were back on earth Chase would have returned to his fellow rangers and abandoned Heckyl to fend for himself. 

“Here, drink this.” Chase said and held out a glass of water. Heckyl stared at the offering, but didn’t move to take it or sit up. In all honestly he wasn’t certain he could do either at the moment. Although he no longer felt like he was dying, he still wasn’t exactly one hundred percent. 

He felt weak. 

Chase seemed to understand this on some level and moved closer to Heckyl, lifting his head up and putting the glass up to Heckyl’s lips. 

Although Heckyl didn’t exactly appreciate being manhandled by the power ranger, he allowed it since the water was cool and refreshing and soothed the daggers that seemed to line the inside of his throat. 

“Better?” Chase asked, genuinely sounding concerned as he set the mostly empty glass aside. 

“What happened?” Heckyl demanded instead of answering. 

Chase sighed and sat down heavily on the chair conveniently located by Heckyl’s bed. “It’s a long story.” 

“Shorten it.” Heckyl growled. 

“I made a deal.” Chase shrugged. “One of the villagers got a doctor to help you.” 

A deal. Heckyl narrowed his blue eyes at the ranger and frowned. Nothing else seemed to be missing on the ranger’s person. “You didn’t do something incredibly stupid like give up your energem, did you?” 

“No,” Chase winced. “I – I didn’t give them that.” He clutched at his shirt and the prize underneath the cloth. 

Heckyl allowed himself a moment to relax. “Then what, please tell, did you give them?” 

The door opened and Chase startled and stood. “He just woke up.” Chase said nervously as an alien with antlers entered the room. 

“Yes.” The woman said with a dip of her head. “He is alive and will be taken care of, it is time for you to hold up your end of our deal.” 

Heckyl watched the interaction with morbid fascination. Chase’s fists were clutched tightly at his sides, as if he wanted to fight but knew he could never win. The antlered creature didn’t seem overly strong, but Heckyl didn’t have all the information. 

“How long will it take?” Chase asked, voice soft and frail. Like he was afraid and trying very hard to hide it.

“Long enough.” The antlered creature motioned Chase forward and the ranger glanced at Heckyl with a sad excuse for a smile. 

“Duty calls.” Chase said and shrugged. “I’ll be back.” 

“Don’t bother.” Heckyl hissed and Chase closed his eyes before he turned away and followed the alien out of the room. The door closed behind the two and Heckyl felt loneliness sink in. 

It was odd, why did Heckyl want to know what was wrong with Chase? It was none of his business. If the pesky ranger died it would be a good thing. Helpful. One less problem to worry about. 

And yet, the ranger had obviously gone to great lengths to keep Heckyl alive. If Heckyl were an honorable alien he would owe Chase a great debt. A life debt. Two, if Heckyl was keeping count – which he wasn’t. 

Still as Heckyl drifted back to sleep he wondered if perhaps the ranger had bitten off more than he could chew and gotten them both into more trouble than they had been in before. 

__

Chase felt sick with apprehension as he followed Aurora through the halls of the building. They left what Chase guessed was the dormitory area and entered what appeared to be a low budget hospital wing. 

They didn’t even have feel-good paintings on the walls or crappy plastic waiting room chairs. 

“So, how exactly are we going to do this?” Chase asked as cheerfully as he could muster, which in all honesty wasn’t all that believable. 

“You won’t do anything.” Aurora said over her shoulder as she led him into some kind of procedure room. There were all kinds of strange and terrifying things in the room that made Chase’s skin crawl. It looked like something out of a horror film. 

“Sit here.” The doctor said. He was dressed in a deep crimson red, which did nothing to calm Chase’s nerves. 

Chase sat on the wooden slab the doctor had motioned to. That was one of the strangest parts about the room. Everything was either made of wood, glass or stone. No metal. Metal was probably too precious for something like this place. 

“What’s going to happen?” Chase asked as the doctor started to strap him down with leather and cloth straps. “Why do you need those?” 

“To insure you stay as still as possible.” The doctor said with a huff, like he wished Chase would shut up and let him work.

Aurora seemed to understand Chase’s nerves and ran her fingers across his forehead, brushing his hair to the side. “The donation process we use is not the same as on your home world.” 

Well that didn’t sound good. 

“Uh, so what does that mean?” Chase asked as he watched the doctor move this and that around on a wooden tray. It was hard to tell what exactly he was moving around with his back turned towards Chase. 

“Lay back and think of something pleasant.” Aurora suggested as Chase caught sight of what this world deemed to be a needle. It was horrifyingly big and made of what appeared to be either a hardened straw or some kind of hollow bone. 

“That doesn’t look that bad.” Chase muttered, not believing a word he was saying. 

“That is only the beginning.” Aurora promised as the doctor sipped the sharp tip of the bone needle under Chase’s skin in the crook of his elbow. Burning pain spread through Chase’s arm and raced up and through his body. 

The screaming started after the shock burned away. 

__

The next time Heckyl woke he was no longer alone in the room. He looked over and saw Chase sprawled out on the other bed, a bandage wrapped around his elbow. The human looked pale, but otherwise unharmed. The human’s eyes were closed, but his face looked tense even in sleep. 

With a sigh Heckyl looked around the room and was delighted to spot a tray filled with food. Heckyl had no clue how long it had been since he had eaten the fruit Chase had collected. He had no clue how long he had been unconscious, but he did know that he was hungry and the solution wasn’t far away. 

Carefully Heckyl pushed his elbows back and lifted himself up off the bed. He felt stronger than the last time he had been awake. His natural healing abilities seemed to be kicking in – whatever the doctor Chase had found had done seemed to have worked well enough. 

Heckyl was alive at least. 

Barefoot Heckyl walked across the room and sat down at the table, quickly digging into the food. 

The door opened and the antlered creature walked into the room. 

“The human said you two were enemies.” The creature said as it watched Heckyl eat the food with mild interest. 

“That about sums it up.” Heckyl agreed after he swallowed his mouthful. 

“I’ve never known an enemy to go to such lengths to save someone.” The creature pointed out. 

“You’ve clearly never been to earth.” Heckyl rolled his eyes and dipped a piece of what appeared to be bread into a bowl of what appeared to be something mixed with cinnamon. It was heaven, whatever it was. “The whole race is sick in the head with messed up priorities.” 

The alien chuckled airily and looked over Chase briefly. 

“What did he offer you?” Heckyl asked casually, hoping he didn’t sound as curious as he felt. He was dying to know. “To heal me.” 

“His blood.” The creature answered with a grim smile. 

Heckyl’s stomach turned a little as he looked at Chase’s prone form on the bed. He suddenly had an irrational thought to put himself between the ranger and the alien creature, but was able to stop himself. He never asked the human to sacrifice so much to save him. Heckyl never wanted it. It was the human’s fault. 

It was none of Heckyl’s concern, and yet…

“Human blood has iron.” Heckyl said slowly. “You – they don’t have that much iron.” Heckyl glared. “What could you possibly want with such a small amount?” 

The creature laughed again – Heckyl loathed the sound of it. “What does it matter to you what we do with your enemies blood? His debt is to us and he will remain here until his end of the bargain is fulfilled. You, however, are free to go whenever you feel well enough to do so.” 

Heckyl felt a ping of regret, but pushed it aside. He didn’t want to stay in this place any longer. The cave was far more comfortable than this building. “I’ll need shoes.” Heckyl said boldly. 

The antlered creature looked mildly annoyed, but nodded. “That falls under the agreement.” She said. “I will return with something appropriate.” 

“See that you do.” Heckyl hissed and stuffed a few small pieces of fruit into his mouth as he watched the creature leave. Once alone, or, alone with Chase, Heckyl stood and moved to stand over the human. “Fool.” Heckyl accused. “You should have let me die.” 

If Heckyl wanted to he could end Chase’s life. If Heckyl wanted to, he could take the man’s energem. 

Carefully Heckyl reached out and pulled out the strap around Chase’s throat to reveal the energem. The normally black gem was dull and lifeless. 

“I suppose that is fitting.” Heckyl huffed and released the strap. The energem was drained, just like he had been. There was a chance the relic was as useless as it’s wearer. 

The door opened again and Aurora stood with a pair of sandals in her hand. “I trust these will suffice?” She asked. 

Heckyl scoffed. “If they must.” The alien said with disgust. He wondered where the human had left his boots, but didn’t truly want to wait around and ask the man. Heckyl was fairly certain if he were there when Chase woke up he would never be able to bring himself to leave the deadweight behind. 

“Would you like to leave him a message before you go?” The antlered alien asked patiently as Heckyl snatched the footwear from her hands and started strapping them to his feet. 

“Hardly.” Heckyl rolled his eyes as he pulled the shoes on. “No, I take that back.” He said as an idea hit him. “Tell him he needs to learn what the word ‘enemy’ means.” Heckyl laughed and pushed by the antlered woman to find the exit to the building.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> BOOM! (I'm on a roll y'all!)

When Chase woke he wasn’t alone. 

Aurora stood over him with a blank look that sparked a anger within Chase that took him by surprise. Sure he had the right to be mad. He had the right to be furious, but rarely did Chase feel so angry. 

The last time he felt so mad he took down Wrench without any help. Being electrocuted wasn’t exactly fun, but the anger it caused had frightened Chase after everything was all said and done. 

That fear chased the rage away, leaving mild annoyance in it’s wake. 

“You are awake.” Aurora stated the obvious. 

“You didn’t tell me it would be like that.” Chase accused in a rather childish voice. He sat up and tried his best not to fall over as the world spun around him. “A little warning would have been nice.” 

“Would knowing the whole truth have changed your mind?” Aurora asked gently. 

No, Chase answered in the safety of his mind. He would have done just about anything to save Heckyl. 

Chase had always feared being alone. Being trapped on a planet was hard enough. If Heckyl had died Chase would be truly alone. Yes, Heckyl wasn’t exactly a friend, but Chase felt like that might change if Heckyl was given the chance. A real chance. 

Speaking of…Chase looked around the room and frowned when he didn’t see the alien. 

“He left.” Aurora announced, seemingly able to read Chase’s thoughts. It wasn’t the first time that he thought she might be inside his head somehow. “He said to tell you that you needed to learn what the word enemy meant.” 

Chase deflated at the antlered alien’s words. Of course Heckyl would leave. They weren’t friends or allies. Chase had hoped that things would change if he just believed they could. 

He’d been wrong. 

He’d been foolish. 

“I guess he’s right.” Chase agreed.

“You still must fulfill your end of our deal.” Aurora pointed out with a dangerous edge to her tone. 

“I know.” Chase nodded without looking at the creature. 

“I will bring you some food.” Aurora told him, seemingly satisfied that Chase wasn’t going to try and escape. “You will need your strength for the next donation.” 

Chase shuddered at the thought of going through that procedure again. He had no choice. He’d gotten himself into this mess and if he survived he’d make sure never to end up in Aurora’s clutches again. 

__

No one tried to stop Heckyl as he wandered around the building. Eventually the alien managed to find his way to the exit. It appeared to be morning and very few people were out and about. 

The few people who were up and active were setting up tents and tables, likely for a day of trading. 

Now that Heckyl was feeling better he could search for valuable information and get off the world and back to Earth. One energem had been destroyed, but there were still the others. 

Although now that Snide was gone Heckyl wasn’t sure what he wanted the energems for. He could possibly try and use them to turn back time and stop his planet from being destroyed, but that wouldn’t solve everything. 

In fact, Heckyl wasn’t even sure if that was possible. 

One thing was certain, Heckyl wanted to get off this world and return somewhere familiar. Earth was closest thing the alien had to a home currently. 

“You look a bit lost.” A voice said, startling Heckyl out of his thoughts. 

“You could say that.” Heckyl agreed darkly. He turned and faced the stranger. A humanoid man with a sack over his shoulder that was thick and full of who knew what. “I landed on this planet unexpectedly.” 

“Unexpectedly?” The man looked a little surprised. “Well that’s unfortunate.” 

“This is a trading planet, is it not?” Heckyl narrowed his eyes. “How do you go off world?” 

“You don’t.” The man shook his head. “The only way to leave this planet is the way you came. The atmosphere around the planet is too hazardous for ships to break orbit. You either have a way to open a portal or you stay here.” 

“Is there someone around who could help me open a portal?” Heckyl asked, exasperated. He wasn’t sure if the situation could get any worse. 

Well, at least he wasn’t dying any longer. 

“Nope.” The man shook his head. “The last portal jumper was killed not to long ago and them kind aren’t welcome around here anymore. Not after the lady Aurora set up shop.” He shrugged. “You might be able to find one in another village, but I wouldn’t place a bet on that gamble.” 

“Lady Aurora?” Heckyl raised an eyebrow. 

“Scary woman with antlers.” The man said. “Now, unless you want to trade something I think I’ve offered you enough help.” 

Heckyl glared, but let the man pass by and watched as he lumbered down the road. He didn’t like the idea of being trapped on the planet. He had a feeling there was a way off world and back to Earth, he just needed to search for it. 

Aurora. That was the name of the antlered alien that held Chase. She apparently was powerful, which didn’t bode well for the power ranger. There was a good chance that Chase would never see the light of day again. 

Not that it mattered to Heckyl. 

Stubbornly ignoring the ping of guilt in his chest Heckyl pressed onwards in search for better information. 

An hour later Heckyl was resting on a bench watching the busy market place when he saw something oddly familiar attached to a very unfamiliar creature. 

“That doesn’t belong to you.” Heckyl said as the alien walked by. 

The feathered bear like creature frowned at Heckyl. “What doesn’t belong to me?” 

“That.” Heckyl pointed to the watch wrapped around the creature’s wrist. 

The bear looked at the watch and then Heckyl. “I assure you I traded for it honestly.” 

The flint and steel. Chase had used it to keep Heckyl warm in the cave. Chase had done everything he could to protect Heckyl despite how Heckyl had treated him. All the while knowing that Heckyl would likely turn on him when he was mended. 

Just like Heckyl had. 

Heckyl looked up and the creature was gone, lost in the current of the crowd walking around him. 

“I never asked for his help.” Heckyl snarled bitterly at his shadow, but found himself looking back towards the brick building in the center of the village. 

“The damned fool deserves his fate.” Heckyl snapped and made his decision. 

__

Chase was sitting at the table in his room lost in thought. He felt mildly better although still shaken from the donation. Just the thought of having to go through that process two more times made Chase’s stomach turn. 

He had eaten the food Aurora had brought him begrudgingly. She had stood over him like his stepmother had when he was a child refusing to eat his carrots. 

Heckyl was gone. Chase had mixed feelings about that. On one had he had always known that Heckyl might turn on him in some way once the alien was feeling better. On the other hand he had hoped, but that hope was as gone as Heckyl was. 

The door opened and Chase closed his eyes without looking up. “Ever heard of knocking?” 

“I wasn’t sure it would open.” 

Chase’s head snapped up and he locked eyes with Heckyl. 

“You came back.” Chase said, shocked. 

Heckyl rolled his eyes and slowly walked into the room, not looking directly at Chase as he moved around. “I didn’t have anything better to do.” 

Silence fell over them and finally Heckyl turned his blue gaze onto Chase. “You look terrible.” 

“Well,” Chase offered a lopsided grin. “I don’t feel much better.” 

“Why did you do this for me?” Heckyl asked after a moment’s hesitation. He didn’t sound angry – more confused with a mixture of curious. “Why cause yourself so much hardship? You have to know I’ll likely destroy you.” 

“But you haven’t.” Chase pointed out. “Sure, you were sick, but I was asleep when you left – you didn’t hurt me. You might have left, but you did come back.” 

“I told you, there’s nothing else for me to do.” Heckyl rolled his eyes and crossed his arms over his chest in defense. “Answer my question.” 

Chase let out a long sigh and shrugged a shoulder. “I suppose I saw you lying there, helpless and figured we are more alike than I thought. If our positions were reversed, well, I would have wanted you to help me. I wouldn’t want to be left alone.” 

“I would have gladly left you alone.” Heckyl said confidently. “Or I would have killed you.” 

“Maybe.” Chase nodded. “But I couldn’t bring myself to do that. I figured maybe if I helped you, maybe we could work together to get home.” 

“Earth is hardly my home.” Heckyl snorted. 

“I guess.” Chase agreed. “But it’s the closest home you have right now. More than this place, anyway. You said it yourself, you want to go back.” 

“Only because I want the energems.” Heckyl pointed out. 

“You could have taken mine, but you haven’t.” Chase said thoughtfully. 

“Yours is destroyed.” Heckyl glared. “It’s worthless.” 

Chase felt his heart twist in his chest and reached to grip the energem in his hand. His energem. He had feared the energem’s power was gone, but it was a hard truth to swallow now that Heckyl had said it out loud. 

The energem had chosen Chase to protect it and Chase had let it down. 

“You didn’t know?” Heckyl asked after a moment. 

“No.” Chase shook his head, his voice suddenly thick with emotion. “I thought it was a possibility, but I didn’t know for sure.” 

They were quiet for a moment and finally Chase lowered his hand and looked at Heckyl. 

“If we work together,” Heckyl said slowly. “If we manage to get back to Earth, what then?” 

Chase considered the consequences of working with Heckyl. He hoped that he could maybe change Heckyl’s heart, but if that ended up being impossible, well, Chase wasn’t sure what would happen. 

“What do you want to happen?” Chase asked curiously. 

“If we somehow manage to get back,” Heckyl said carefully, “We go our separate ways. All bets are off.” 

It was better than nothing.

“Okay.” Chase agreed. “You’ve got yourself a deal.” 

At least this deal felt better than the last deal Chase had made.


	8. Chapter 8

“I’m not sure I understand why we don’t just leave this retched place.” Heckyl said as he tipped back in his chair. 

“I made a deal.” Chase said as he paced around the room. He wasn’t sure when Aurora would come back to get him for the next donation. Although he was feeling almost recovered the idea of going through that kind of pain again was causing him a great deal of anxiety. 

Heckyl huffed. “I’m bored.” 

Chase chuckled at that. A bored Heckyl was a dangerous Heckyl, if history said anything on the matter. 

“I could teach you a game.” Chase offered. Perhaps it would also take his mind off of the impending donations. 

“A game?” Heckyl said with mild interest. “What kind of game.” 

“Yeah, to pass the time. There are a few options.” Chase shrugged and moved to sit in the second chair across from Heckyl. “There’s a game called ‘I Spy.’” 

Heckyl perked up at that. “Does it involve stealing things?” 

“Uh,” Chase blinked at the assumption. “No, not stealing.” 

“Then I don’t see how it could be considered fun.” Heckyl huffed again. 

“It’s a guessing game.” Chase tried to explain. “I’ll give you a hint of something I see around the room and you have to guess what it is.” 

“Sounds painfully easy.” Heckyl glared. 

“I’m pretty good at it.” Chase said smugly. “I play it with my sister all the time.” 

“I’ll defeat you.” Heckyl said with smug confidence. 

“We’ll see.” Chase grinned. “I spy with my little eye something blue.” 

“Blue?” Heckyl frowned. “What kind of a hint is that?” 

“It’s how the game works.” Chase shrugged. “You say its color or the first letter it starts with, that kind of thing.” 

“Fine.” Heckyl glared. “Your pants.” 

“Nope.” 

Heckyl’s glare deepened. “My clothes.” 

“Nope.” 

“You’re cheating.” Heckyl accused. 

“No,” Chase frowned. “I’m not. Do you give up?” 

“Never.” 

“We can play another game.” Chase added sincerely. 

“I will win.” Heckyl insisted. 

“Okay.” Chase shrugged. 

This went on for a long time and Heckyl’s frustration only grew. Eventually Heckyl started to re-guess objects he already picked with a shaking anger that was a little worrisome. 

“I can give you another hint.” Chase offered, chin in hands as he watched Heckyl pace the room to exhaust some of his pent up rage. “It’s not that big of a deal.” 

“I don’t need it.” Heckyl insisted. 

“Alright, fine.” Chase sighed. “How about you keep thinking about what it is and we play another game.” 

“Is it as stupid as this game?” Heckyl demanded harshly. 

“I’ll pick something, uh, better.” Chase winced and sat up a little, no longer leaning against the table. “How about we play ‘truth or lie.’” 

“And what idiocy does that game entail?” Heckyl asked as he flopped back down in his chair. 

“I’ll tell you something and you have to guess if I’m telling the truth or lying to you.” Chase explained. “For example if I said, ‘I’ve never gotten sucked into a portal and sent to another world before,’ you would say,” 

“Of course you have, you moron.” Heckyl narrowed his eyes. 

“Exactly.” Chase grinned despite the insult. “So let’s start. I have one sibling.” 

“Truth.” Heckyl said with a bored expression. 

“Nope, I have two. A younger sister and an older brother.” Chase said with a small smile. Heckyl didn’t look murderous, he looked curious. 

“You never talk about him.” Heckyl pointed out. “Ever. How do I know you aren’t lying?” 

“My older brother and I were close when we were growing up.” Chase shrugged. “Then our mother died and our father remarried. Carson, well, he was mad at the world and that world included me.” 

“He left?” Heckyl asked. 

“Yep.” Chase nodded. “Haven’t seen or heard from him since I was ten. He didn’t even come to our father’s funeral. I’m not even sure he knows dad is dead.” 

“I’m sorry.” Heckyl frowned at the story. 

“It’s not a big deal.” Chase mustered a smile. “It’s in the past, anyway. It’s brighter when you look towards the future.” 

Heckyl nodded absently. 

“Your turn.” Chase offered after a few moments. “Truth or lie, lay it on me.” 

For a moment Heckyl was quiet. Then he grinned. “Once upon a time I was one of the good guys, just like you.” 

“Truth.” Chase said easily. 

Heckyl frowned. “How could you possibly know that?” 

“Because I see you.” Chase shrugged. “You had a lot of chances to outright kill the others and me, but you didn’t. It was like you wanted to fail on purpose. Like you were trying to trick Snide or distract him. You are smart, dare I say devious. You could have taken the energems from us at any given time, but you didn’t.” 

Heckyl was quiet for a moment and looked down at the table with eyes filled with surprise and uncertainty. “You’re smarter than you give yourself credit for.” Heckyl said after a while. 

“If we were all smarty pants geniuses, the team would get weighed down with how serious protecting the world is.” Chase grinned. “Someone has to keep the mood light. Besides, I’m not really smart. Clever, maybe, but not smart.” 

“That’s a lie.” Heckyl said with narrowed eyes, but the door opened, ending their conversation and the game. 

Aurora took in the sight of them and seemed more than a little surprised to see Heckyl. 

“You returned.” The antlered alien said. 

“So it seems.” Heckyl agreed coldly. 

Aurora’s eyes turned to Chase who felt his heart sink low in his chest. “It is time for the next donation.” 

“So soon?” Chase said as casually as he could manage. He wanted to run and hide, but he also didn’t want to look weak in front of Heckyl. They were finally bonding. Sort of. “Alright.” Chase stood. 

“How long should this process take?” Heckyl asked. He sounded annoyed – probably because he was losing his source of entertainment. 

“Longer than the first time.” Aurora answered and Chase felt the blood drain from his face. 

“Why?” Chase asked and took a step back.

Aurora didn’t appear surprised at the reaction. Although she seemed to always either have a motherly expression or one of indifference depending on what was happening. 

“During the first donation we infused your blood with certain chemicals that would help your body regenerate more iron faster than normal. Because of that process we will be able to extract more of the valuable substance.” 

“So,” Chase swallowed thickly. “It won’t hurt as much?” 

“It will be the same,” Aurora promised. “If not more painful. You will be severely weakened after the process and it will take you time to recover. More time than the first.” 

At least she was honest. 

Chase kind of wished she had lied. He was finding it harder to go through with the deal now that Heckyl wasn’t dying. Still, a deal was a deal, no matter how sucky it was. 

“Come.” Aurora beckoned. She wasn’t as patient anymore. 

Chase sort of understood. Business was business. 

“Okay.” Chase said, feeling like he was agreeing to his own execution. The lack of cheer or his typical easy going nature seemed to translate even in Heckyl’s warped mind. 

“Can’t this wait?” The alien asked, doing his best to sound bored and uninterested as he leaned back in his chair, tipping it onto two legs.

Aurora’s eyes narrowed dangerously. “No. It cannot. A deal is a deal.” 

Chase felt the air in the room grow heavy with sudden tension at the words. So, as long as he cooperated things would be easy, but if Chase refused things wouldn’t be so hospitable. 

“I honor my deals.” Chase sighed and offered Heckyl a forced smile. “I’ll be back.” 

Heckyl frowned and stood and brushed off his clothes as if he were dusty. He wasn’t. Most of what Heckyl did, Chase was finding out, was for show. “I’m not sitting around waiting for you.” 

Chase’s heart fell a little, fear swelling and taking up room around it. Squeezing it like a vice. Heckyl was going to leave him. 

It had always been a possibility. 

“I – I understand.” Chase said and dropped his gaze. 

“I’ll tag along.” Heckyl said and stretched his arms upwards. Chase watched, not quite understanding at first. 

Heckyl wasn’t leaving. He wanted to go with – 

Well, that was a horrible idea. 

“It – that might not be a good idea.” Chase stammered. He didn’t want Heckyl to see the process. He didn’t want Heckyl to see him that weak. 

“I’ve got nothing better to do.” Heckyl said with subtle forcefulness. He wasn’t going to take no for an answer. 

Too anxious to put up a fight, Chase relented and gave a small nod. “Okay. Alright, let’s do this thing.”


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Good news! I finally figured out where I'm going with this (sort of...) I mean, I have 13 chapters completed...not edited, but completed, lol, but the ending is in sight! AND IT'S A GOOD ONE (If I say so myself!) 
> 
> I did just pick up two freelance jobs on top of my full time job and my secondary job...so I'm not sure when I'm gunna have time to write...but I will! I promise! 
> 
> Adulting sucks.

Heckyl wasn’t sure why he wanted to go with Chase and watch the donation process. It was something about how Chase paled when Aurora came into the room. Then there was his question. From Heckyl’s observations the black ranger, like all of the power rangers, had a very high tolerance for pain. 

When Wrench had been electrocuted and powered up the supped up robot had inadvertently electrocuted the black ranger. Instead of letting the others take over the fight while he recovered, Chase had gone after Wrench personally and defeated the abnormally strong robot singlehandedly. 

So whatever pain Chase was facing had to be rather terrible. 

Not that Heckyl should care. 

Sure they had agreed to work together to go back to Earth, but Heckyl could probably figure out how to get back alone. 

He didn’t need Chase. At least, he didn’t need him anymore. If it hadn’t been for Chase, however, Heckyl was fairly certain he wouldn’t have survived. 

Honor. Guilt. Without Snide to block such pesky emotions Heckyl found himself feeling things he rather wouldn’t. Emotions were so trying. They got in the way and prevented things from being easy. 

It was easier to be alone. 

It was easier not to care about Chase. 

Easy wasn’t the name of the game, it seemed. At least not for the foreseeable future. Heckyl followed Aurora just at Chase’s shoulder. The black ranger didn’t look at him as they trudged down the hallway. It was odd seeing the usually confident and cocky man so subdued. 

Maybe Heckyl shouldn’t witness what was about to happen. Maybe it would only cause the emotions inside him to grow stronger. 

Or maybe he’d see Chase for what he really was – a weak waste of space. 

A waste of space that saved his life and offered up his own to be tortured. 

“Ugh.” Heckyl growled at himself. It got his companions attention. 

“Are you okay?” Chase asked, shocking Heckyl enough that the normally graceful alien stumbled mid step. 

“Of course.” Heckyl snapped. He honestly didn’t understand why Chase would ask such a stupid question. It wasn’t like Heckyl was about to be – well, whatever was about to happen to Chase. 

“You don’t have to see this.” Chase said as Aurora stopped in front of a door. 

“I’ll decide what I should and shouldn’t see.” Heckyl snarled back. Chase shrugged mutely in response and moved to the wooden table in the center of the room. He sat down and a man in a red coat appeared and started to strap the human down. 

“Are those really necessary?” Heckyl asked with a raised eyebrow. “He isn’t exactly resisting.” 

“It’s not to keep him from escaping.” Aurora answered, letting the doctor focus on his task. “It’s to keep him from moving too much during the donation.” 

Heckyl’s gut twisted at the explanation. He kept silent as the doctor pulled out a ridiculously large needle made out of what appeared to be some sort of wood or bone. 

Chase paled at the sight and closed his eyes, like not seeing the object would make it go away. 

The doctor didn’t say anything as he shoved the sharpened thing into the human’s vulnerable arm. It took two tries for the doctor to position the sharp needle correctly and if the way Chase only winced at the insertion process it appeared as though this wasn’t the worst part of what was about to happen. 

Attached to the hollowed out bone was a plastic like tube that immediately started to fill with red blood snaking down and dripping into a glass jar positioned on the floor by the wooden table. 

That was when the doctor held out his hands over Chase’s chest and by some power or magic sent a sickly green light into the human’s body. 

Chase reacted immediately. Muscles tensed and flexed as whatever happened consumed him. Heckyl understood the need for the straps more as Chase withered against the bonds holding him down. There was no escape, however. Blood started to leak from the corner of Chase’s lips and Aurora stepped forward and grabbed Chase by the hair none to gently. 

“Scream if you must,” the antlered alien said, “Damaging your tongue will not be worth the pain in the long run.” 

Heckyl froze a little as he listened to the warning. Chase seemed to accept her words and moaned a little before he let out a horrible cry of agony. His eyes flew open, no longer charcoal black but that horrible, sickly green – the same color as the energy being shoved forcefully into the human’s body. 

“What is that light?” Heckyl asked, his voice sharp and demanding. 

“It helps his body regenerate his life force faster than biology allows.” Aurora explained in a detached, uninterested and uncaring voice. “It allows us to take more of his blood without killing him in the process.” 

It was Heckyl’s turn to bite his tongue as he watched the man he considered an enemy suffering in his place. It wasn’t right. Chase should never have agreed to such a deal. It hadn’t been his place to do this for Heckyl. 

“How much longer?” Heckyl asked as the time stretched on and Chase’s cries became hoarse with strain. The human’s skin had turned horribly pale, almost grey in tone. 

“As long as it takes.” Aurora answered. 

“This is ridiculous.” Heckyl shook his head. “He had no right to make that deal.” 

“And yet he made it of his own free will.” Aurora reminded him sharply. 

“Then I’ll take his place.” Heckyl said and stepped forward to dislodge the doctor and stop the inhuman procedure. “Release him.” 

Aurora stepped in front of Heckyl, her eyes alight with a power that Heckyl had not sensed or expected. 

“You will maintain your distance.” Aurora warned, her hand extended and an intimidating ball of red-hot fire forming. 

“Take my blood instead.” Heckyl demanded, but knew better than to face Aurora in battle. Heckyl felt better, but his magic was a faint echo in the furthest corners of his mind. He was painfully aware it wouldn’t be enough to win this fight. 

“Your blood is worthless.” Aurora said with her chin tipped up. “Restrain yourself, or I will have you removed from the building.” 

“Are you blind?” Heckyl raged as he shook from the anger he was holding back. “This is killing him.” 

“He will survive.” Aurora promised. “He is too valuable to kill. It is only a matter of time before he sells himself fully to me. You are his enemy. It will save you a lot of trouble to leave him behind.” 

Heckyl took a step back at that. “Are you offering me a way off this planet?” 

“No.” Aurora shook her head. “I do not have a way off this planet. I am offering you a way to free yourself of your burden. He is weak. Leave him behind.” 

“You don’t get to decide his fate or mine.” Heckyl roared and blinked as the room changed and the sound of Chase’s screams vanished, leaving only an echo behind. Heckyl was back in their room – alone. 

Magic, Heckyl realized. Aurora had teleported him away. He rushed to the door but found it locked – magically sealed. 

“Perfect.” Heckyl hissed unhappily. 

It was anything but. 

__

Hours later Chase was returned to the room in the same way Heckyl had arrived – in a flash of purple light. The human was unconscious and sickly gray. 

Heckyl hesitated as Chase, trembling and sick looking, turned to his side and curled into a human sized ball. The alien wasn’t sure how to help. He wasn’t sure why he wanted to help, but he did and he was at a loss. 

Gently he reached out and put his hand on the human’s shoulder. Chase’s eyes, now a dull black almost slate grey, opened and peered back at him weakly. “Your eyes.” Chase whispered hoarsely. 

Fear shot through Heckyl. He was worried that his concern was showing. He didn’t want the human to know that he was worried. He needed to hide his emotions. He made his face carefully blank. “What about them?” Heckyl snapped and removed his hand. 

“Blue. They are blue. The blue in the room.” Chase rambled. “Pretty blue.” The ranger sighed and his eyes slipped closed as he lost consciousness. 

The game, Heckyl realized. The one he had been so frustrated at. Chase had chosen his eyes.


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not dead, but I haven't written anything in a long, long time...however, today I might have gotten my spark back. I had a very terrible dream....that was also rather interesting. But that is neither here nor there...the point is I wrote something! 
> 
> Sorry for my lack of updates!

Heckyl didn’t know what to do with his worry. Chase hadn’t woken up again and time was tick-tocking by. Heckyl switched back and forth from pacing the length of the room and standing over Chase’s bedside and staring at the human. It was a poor attempt to intimidate the power ranger into waking up and cluing him in on if the pathetic human was dying or not. 

Aurora seemed pretty determined not to kill Chase, but she also seemed pretty inept in her plan. 

Heckyl was ready to take Chase and run, but he hesitated. 

Human’s looked like Heckyl’s kind, but they were clearly different in many ways. Heckyl knew little to nothing about how to take care of an ailing human. It was clear that many things on the planet were dangerous for human’s to eat and Heckyl really hadn’t been paying much attention to what Aurora had been bringing them. 

There was one more donation. Although Heckyl was slightly worried that it would kill Chase, Heckyl wasn’t sure stealing him away wouldn’t bring about the same result. 

“H-hey.” Chase croaked suddenly, shattering the silence of the room. 

Heckyl’s eyes snapped to the human’s face and noted that Chase was indeed awake. Heckyl didn’t return the greeting. He simply stared at Chase with a glare that would strike terror into the hearts of all of his minions back in the remains of Sledge’s ship. 

Chase didn’t seem phased. The human was a true and pure moron. 

“You’re still here.” Chase added as he closed his eyes. 

“You are an idiot.” Heckyl accused harshly. 

Chase chuckled. “Yeah.” 

“You can’t go through that again.” Heckyl added angrily. “I won’t allow it.” 

Chase peeled his eyelids back open and looked at Heckyl with a surprised expression. “I don’t have a choice.” 

“You don’t, I agree.” Heckyl said and stood up with such force that his chair tipped backwards and clattered on the ground. Both men ignored it as Heckyl glared down at Chase. “I won’t allow it and you can’t stop me.” 

“I made a deal.” Chase pointed out stubbornly. 

“You had no right to make that deal.” Heckyl snapped. 

“You were dying.” Chase whispered, finally losing his calm, easy going exterior. 

“You should have let me die!” Heckyl shouted. 

Chase’s mouth dropped open and he moved to sit up despite the obvious pain it was causing him. “You don’t mean that.” 

“You don’t know me!” Unable to handle the conversation and too afraid that he would let his worried emotions slip to the surface, Heckyl swept out of the room without looking back over his shoulder. 

Somewhere in his heart Heckyl felt a twisting dagger that reminded him that he shouldn’t leave Chase alone when he was so vulnerable. The rest of him wanted to storm off and cool down before he gave into his desire to take Chase and run. 

Either way, Chase would not go through another ‘donation’ again. 

__ 

Chase attempted to follow Heckyl, but failed in his graceless attempt to get off the bed and crumpled in a heap onto the floor next to it. He made it to his knees when the door opened again. 

Aurora. 

She made a displeased noise as she entered into the room and scooped Chase up like he was some small child and tucked him back into the bed. Chase was too exhausted to fight the treatment physically, but in his mind he wanted to run and hide. 

“You are in no condition to move about, little one.” Aurora scolded him as he closed his eyes and wished for unconsciousness. 

“He – he left.” Chase muttered, unable to form the complete sentence he had filtering around his scrambled brain. 

“Yes.” Aurora agreed. “He seems to do that often. If you would like, I can keep him from coming back – for your protection, of course. You said it yourself, little one, he is your enemy. He will only hurt you in the future.” 

Chase’s eyes snapped open at that, his lips parted to object, but no sound emerged. 

Aurora seemed to take that as a win. “I could protect you.” She soothed and brushed his sweat dampened hair from his forehead gently with her claw like fingernails. “I could keep you here with me and we could help one another out.” 

Through more donations. Despite what Heckyl thought, Chase wasn’t a complete moron. She wanted to use him for his blood. 

“No.” Chase managed. “No, I don’t agree to that. Any of it. Heckyl will come back.” Chase declared boldly. “He just – just needed air.” 

Chase missed the fresh air himself. 

“One more donation.” Chase closed his eyes. “Only one. No more.” 

The kind claw retracted and Chase opened his eyes to see Aurora’s very unhappy expression. “As you wish, but I must warn you that my clients will not be satisfied with the small amount you have provided.” She smiled in a very unpleasant way. “I could protect you from them – their methods of extracting the iron from your blood are much less pleasant than my own. I fear your frail body might not survive one of their sessions and they won’t be so kind to ask your permission.” She paused long enough for the new information to sink in before she swayed back towards the door. “Think about it, little one.” 

Chase didn’t want to think about it. Not at all. 

__

Heckyl just needed some time to think and calm down a bit before he returned to Chase. He stomped around the little village, quiet as it was well after sunset and the trading tents had closed up shop for the day. 

He just needed time to cool off. Mostly so he didn’t end up snapping Chase’s pretty little neck. 

Pretty. 

Heckyl grimaced at the word as it crossed his mind. Chase was pretty, there was no denying such blatant facts, however, Heckyl didn’t want to dwell on that. Or the fact that Chase had risked his life and health to save him. Or the fact that Heckyl would be dead if Chase hadn’t offered himself up for such torture. 

The power ranger had no right to make such a sacrifice. 

Heckyl didn’t ask him to do it and so he shouldn’t feel guilty. 

The human had no right at all to put Heckyl in such an unfair position.

On some level Heckyl knew he should be grateful. He knew he should be supportive and help Chase through the torture he was enduring. After all, it was his fault that Chase was suffering. 

Unfortunately being patient wasn’t in Heckyl’s wheelhouse. 

If Snide was still around Heckyl figured he probably would have killed the power ranger the moment he regained the ability to do so. Even weakened Heckyl knew he could have destroyed Chase. Now that the black energem was a useless relic it would have been a cake walk. 

But Snide was gone and so was the bloodlust. 

Feelings were leaking back into Heckyl’s heart, first as a trickle and now as a flood. 

He wanted to help Chase. To repay him. To save him. 

If only the human would cooperate! It was aggravating. Honor only got someone so far and if Chase wasn’t careful his honor would end up killing him. 

Finally feeling tired Heckyl decided it was time to head back to the brick building. He stormed up to the building with the intention of violently opening the door, but the door wouldn’t budge. 

Anger shot through Heckyl as he tried the door again. 

Locked. 

“You won’t get in there tonight.” A voice said from behind Heckyl. Heckyl turned and leveled an impressive glare at the smaller creature. The other alien didn’t seem overly fearful. “I’m just telling you the truth.” It said with a shrug, it’s long rabbit like ears twitching a little. 

“Why?” Heckyl seethed. 

“It always locks at sunset.” The creature answered. “Its when they like to feed.” 

“They?” Heckyl’s anger was quickly turning to fear. 

“The metal eaters.” The creature shrugged. “How do you not know all of this? Are you from one of the far villages?” 

“I’m not from here at all.” Heckyl snapped. “Who are these metal eaters?” 

“They cannot leave this planet.” The creature shrugged. “No one likes to deal with them. They are, um, different. Scary. Lady Aurora finds ways to please them so they don’t kill like they used to.” 

“They are the reason metal is so rare?” Heckyl guessed. 

“They are why most people want to leave this planet.” The creature said. “They are also why so many people cannot leave. This used to be a magnificent trading port. The world itself is filled with valuables, but ships are afraid to come here. They are afraid their ships will be devoured by them and they’ll become stranded. Now only the creative can come and trade here with the locals. You should probably find shelter, you don’t want to run into one of them when they are done in there. They might not kill like they used to, but it’s best to give them a wide berth.” 

Heckyl parted his lips to ask more questions, but the creature pulled out a crystal like disk and vanished in a blast of light. 

“Charming.” Heckyl snarled at the empty air around him. Alone and unable to get to Chase, Heckyl debated ignoring his vanishing friend’s warning. 

He’d be no good to Chase dead. 

“You’d better be alive when I return.” Heckyl hissed under his breath as he turned and stalked off towards the woods. He didn’t remember the journey to the village and had no hope of finding the cave Chase had claimed as their home, but he could make camp for the night somewhere secluded and safe. 

Heckyl was many things, but surviving was what he did best.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks!


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ...miss me?...

Chase woke to the sound of the door opening. He turned his head and couldn’t help the feeling of disappointment when Aurora stepped into view. 

“You were expecting your enemy.” Aurora said in an overly sympathetic tone. 

“Yeah.” Chase said, too tired and weak to explain that Heckyl wasn’t really his enemy anymore. Or maybe he was, but not quite. Not until they returned home. Together. 

“He will likely find his way back at some point.” Aurora sighed and set down the wooden tray she was carrying. “You need to eat.” 

“I’m not really hungry.” Chase muttered and closed his eyes. 

“You don’t have an option.” Aurora pointed out, her kind voice turned as firm as stone. Unmovable. 

“Fine.” Chase agreed reluctantly, mostly because he was afraid that the alien would stuff the food down his throat if she thought it necessary. Aurora nodded approvingly as Chase managed to stand from the bed and wobble over to the table. He sat down and stared at the food. It looked beautiful and smelt divine, but Chase had no desire to eat it. 

“You aren’t keeping him away, right?” Chase asked, still staring at the food. 

“He is free to return whenever he pleases.” Aurora said and forced the spork-thing into Chase’s hand. “Now, eat.” 

The door opened again and Chase looked up and passed Aurora. 

“You could have warned me that the building locks at night.” Heckyl snarled as he stormed into the room. 

Aurora looked mildly annoyed at Heckyl’s return, but shrugged a shoulder as she replied. “You didn’t ask.” 

Heckyl pouted a little and looked at Chase long and hard. “You look better.” He declared after a moment. 

Chase smiled at that. “I try.” He joked, although it fell a little flat as he glanced at a very disapproving Aurora. “I’m eating, I’m eating.” Chase huffed and slowly took a bite and started to chew. It tasted good, but far different than anything Chase had ever eaten on Earth. 

He missed home. He missed a good old burger and fries. 

“I trust you will finish the meal?” Aurora said, catching Chase’s attention. “I must attend to other things.” 

“I will make sure no food is left.” Heckyl said for Chase who rolled his eyes. 

“See that you do.” Aurora answered and left the room and the boys behind. 

“Finish up what you can,” Heckyl whispered. “We’re getting out of here.” 

Chase frowned, “but the deal.” 

“Do you honestly believe she intends to let you go after one more donation?” 

Heckyl’s question struck a chord in Chase. He thought back to the conversation he and Aurora had when Heckyl had stormed out the previous night. 

“She told me she could offer me protection.” Chase whispered. “She said that her clients would come after me either way. She said they wouldn’t be as gentle.” 

“Gentle.” Heckyl choked on the word. “She’s insane. We’re leaving.” 

“But what if she’s right?” Chase asked as a sudden hopelessness filled him. “What if we leave and things actually get worse?”

“Even if we live in a cave and we accidently poison ourselves from time to time,” Heckyl crossed his arms over his chest. “It would still be preferable than being a pawn in someone else’s game.” 

Chase took a minute to consider Heckyl’s words, but nodded. He agreed. Although he didn’t like the idea of breaking the deal, he also didn’t want to fight anymore. “I suppose you have some sort of plan?” 

“I,” Heckyl started and frowned. “Have part of a plan.” 

“Which is?” Chase raised an eyebrow. 

“We get the hell out of here.” 

Chase winced and looked towards the door, afraid that Aurora would be standing there with her most disapproving expression. The alien was nearly psychic with her ability to appear when it was most inconvenient. 

“But first, you should probably eat.” Heckyl added before Chase could stand. “They’ve been careful to hide what you can and cannot eat on this planet. I’m not sure if either of us will be able to figure it out successfully on our own.” 

“We’ll make due.” Chase said, but shoved some of the food in his mouth and chewed quickly. He knew they were on a time clock. Given that he was feeling a little stronger it was likely only hours before his next scheduled donation. “Let’s go.” Chase said, still chewing the last remnants of the meal as he stood. 

Heckyl made a slightly disgusted face, but nodded and went to the door and opened it. He poked his head out and glanced around. “Move quickly.” Heckyl whispered and moved out of the room. 

Chase followed, hesitating at the threshold of the door, part of him worried that there would be some sort of force field keeping him locked inside. His fears were proven ridiculous as he stepped into the hallway unscathed. 

“Let’s go.” Heckyl urged and the two of them hurried through the building. 

“Sir?” Another alien asked from behind and Heckyl started to run, Chase dashed after him. They made it to the exit without any problems and fled to the woods. 

“Which way is the cave?” Heckyl asked, annoyingly un-winded. Chase, still recovering from blood loss tried to catch his breath as he pointed towards the X he had carved into one of the trees. “Follow those.” He said and stumbled after Heckyl as the alien did just that. 

“We are leaving a trail.” Heckyl said after a while. “We’ll need to find another shelter.” 

“Where?” Chase asked as he leaned heavily against a tree. His hair was damp with sweat and his clothes were sticking to his body in an uncomfortable way. What he really wanted to do was to sleep for about a week. 

“We need to think of a plan.” Heckyl paced, still as pristine as he had been back at the medical building. Did alien’s even sweat? 

“I thought the plan was to ‘get the hell out.’?” 

“That was the first part of the plan.” Heckyl grumbled. 

“I guess we could keep moving.” Chase suggested and winced when he heard something break behind him. He turned and only saw trees and shadows. 

“Let’s go.” Heckyl said, obviously as nervous as Chase about the mystery noise. 

Another loud crack filled the air and a tree started to topple down on Heckyl. Chase jumped at Heckyl, knocking them both clear from the falling tree. 

“Blast!” Heckyl yelled and looked up at Chase who was suddenly plastered against his chest. “What the hell where you thinking?” 

“Uh,” Chase trembled a little, both from the adrenalin rush and fading fear. “Oh crap, Heckyl’s about to be pancaked?” 

“Pancaked?” Heckyl asked uncertainly, his arm, for whatever reason, wrapped around Chase’s back, as if the alien were giving Chase a horizontal hug. Either way the trembling stopped and Chase took a calming breath. 

“Pancake – uh, it’s a type of food that’s flat. It’s usually eaten in the morning with syrup – this sticky sweet stuff you’d love.” Chase tried to explain. “If we ever make it back to earth, I’ll make you some.” Chase promised and closed his eyes. 

Another crack sounded and Chase felt Heckyl stiffen. 

“That’s not a coincidence, is it?” Chase whispered. 

“Doubtful.” Heckyl sighed. “I think something is searching for us.” 

“Not Aurora?” Chase said, it wasn’t really a question. Aurora had never demonstrated power like what was happening around them. 

“No.” Heckyl inhaled. Chase smelt like cinnamon, but it had to be a trick of the mind. As far as he knew, cinnamon didn’t exist on their current planet. “We need to keep going.” 

“My energem is as useless as I am.” Chase whispered as he gently pulled himself off of Heckyl. “If it comes down to it, you should probably go on without me.” 

“You are a moron.” Heckyl glared. “Move. We need to get out of here.” 

Another snap sounded and a tree crashed near them just as they made it to their feet. An inhuman screech filled the air and Chase turned just in time to see a shadowy creature lung towards him. 

__

Heckyl watched in shock as a moving shadow jumped onto his human companion. Silver fangs appeared and sunk into Chase’s exposed neck as he was pinned against a tree. 

Chase screamed. The sound was…awful. No, awful wasn’t a strong enough word.

Without really thinking or considering the action, Heckyl reached forward and grabbed the creature and tried to yank it away from Chase. The dark cloak fell back from the creature, revealing what was hiding underneath the shadowy cloth. The creature had silver eyes and its skin glimmered in the streaming sunlight coming down from the canopy. 

It was more metal than flesh. The things Heckyl had mistaken to be fangs were actually coming from it’s hands. The sharp needle like protrusions were stained in red crimson. Chase’s blood dripped down the side of his neck and the human looked to be in a state of shock. 

At least he had stopped screaming. 

Heckyl used the closest thing he could grab as a weapon. The tree branch broke in two as it crashed over the creature’s head, but it did its job and knocked the creature down. It let out another muted and strangled scream as Heckyl swept Chase off his feet and bolted into the woods.


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I'm writing again! I went through a lot of emotions over the last few months, but my creative juices are back (hopefully to stay!) 
> 
> Enjoy!
> 
> Warning: I made up a game in this chapter. Don't judge me because I really don't know if it makes sense, lol. Just go with it!

Heckyl stopped to breathe. He had been running with the human in his arms for hours. The sun was setting and the shadows were growing. There were no obvious signs that they had been followed by the creature, but Heckyl wasn’t foolish enough to think that they were safe. 

Chase hadn’t said a word since the encounter. Heckyl hadn’t looked down. He was a little afraid that he would look down at Chase and realize the human was dead. The silence was disconcerting to say the least. Chase wasn’t quiet. Never so silent. 

Dead silent. 

Finally Heckyl glanced down. Chase was pale, his eyes open but unseeing as he stared forward. 

Frustrated and a little fearful Heckyl roughly adjusted his hold on Chase, hoping for a reaction. He got one. Chase winced and closed his eyes as if in horrible pain. Guilt hit Heckyl like a sledgehammer. 

“Are you alive?” He asked, voice edged in his typical prickliness. 

“Maybe.” Chase whispered. “You?” He asked just under a whisper. 

“I came away from the scuffle unscathed.” Heckyl replied. “We appear to have put some distance between us and that creature.”

“Yay.” Chase breathed. “Good news.” 

“I see more large rocks up ahead.” Heckyl commented as he started walking again. “We might find another cave to rest in.” 

“’kay.” Chase said and closed his eyes, his breath evened out. 

Heckyl couldn’t help but hold the human a little closer. Even though Heckyl had rescued Chase, Chase had rescued Heckyl yet again. It seemed and felt like Heckyl would never be able to catch up to Chase in his debt. 

True enough a cave was found after a short hike. The entrance of the cave was well hidden, which would hopefully aid them in avoiding the metallic creature hunting Chase for his blood. 

Heckyl set Chase down in the far back of the cave and went to hide what he could of their trail and create a few false trails in turn. When he returned Chase was sitting up, but using the cave wall for support as he rested his back against it. 

“What did that thing do to you?” Heckyl asked, unsure if Chase could even answer the question. 

“Not sure.” Chase answered honestly. “Aurora didn’t lie, though, it – it was worse.” 

Heckyl didn’t need Chase to explain what it was worse than, he knew. “They won’t harm you again.” He vowed. 

Chase met Heckyl’s eyes and for once they didn’t hold their natural faith and hope. They seemed dulled and filled with fear. “Not sure you can stop it.” 

“I can.” Heckyl insisted. “I will.” 

Unwilling or uninterested in arguing, Chase nodded in a dismissive way and closed his eyes again. 

“How much did it take?” Heckyl asked and moved to examine the puncture wound on the side of Chase’s neck. Dried blood stained Chase’s pale skin. 

“It – it didn’t take my blood.” Chase tried to explain. “It sucked out the iron. I don’t know how to explain it, but, let’s just say I’d rather not go through that again.” 

“Well, then you should recover quickly.” Heckyl said, pleased. 

“Not really.” Chase winced again, not bothering to open his eyes as he answered. “Anemia is kind of a bad thing – uh, lack of iron…I couldn’t tell you why, but it, uh, my mom was anemic. She was tired all the time.” 

“So I’ll have to carry you around.” Heckyl huffed unhappily. 

“We need to get back to Earth.” Chase moaned and pressed his pale face into the hard wall of the cave. 

“Yes.” Heckyl agreed readily. “Apparently that will be harder than I thought.” 

Finally Chase opened his eyes. “Oh?” He breathed. 

“Unless you have a hidden skill of opening portals or teleportation we’ll need to get creative.” Heckyl sighed. 

“So, we’re screwed?” Chase said bluntly. 

“I miss your obnoxious optimism.” Heckyl chuckled darkly. 

Chase didn’t reply, lost in thought or too tired, Heckyl couldn’t tell. 

“I’ll try building a fire.” 

“Don’t.” Chase reached out and wrapped a loose hand around Heckyl’s ankle. “The smoke. Don’t want to risk it.” 

Heckyl froze a little. The human had a point. If the creatures saw the smoke it could lead them right to their prey. 

“I’m sorry.” Chase whispered. “I know you just want to do something.” 

“What can I do?” Heckyl asked, at a loss. “To help you.” 

“Uh,” Chase offered up a very faint smile. “We could play a game.” 

Heckyl rolled his eyes, but sat down next to Chase and leaned his back up against the wall. “Not this nonsense again. Alright, what ridiculous waste of time do you have for me this time?” 

Chase was quiet for a moment. Heckyl gave him a side-glance, checking to see if the ranger had fallen asleep. 

“How about you teach me a game?” Chase said. “From your home world. You had games, right?” 

Heckyl fell quiet, but nodded. “Yes, we had games.” He answered. “There was this one game, we called it Elements as children.” 

Chase smiled. The first real smile Heckyl had seen on the human’s face in a very long time. “Sounds cool. How do you play?” 

“There are four elements in the game. Earth, wind, water, and fire. You either win, are defeated or you tie. Basically you do a series of motions in sync and then choose an element to fight with by performing a specific hand motion. Earth is a base element, strong and unmovable by wind. Water will defeat earth. Fire is defeated by water and defeats the earth by burning it up.” Heckyl rolled his eyes. “Wind defeats water, although don’t ask me why. Logic wasn’t apart of the rules.” 

“So, it’s like a really complicated version of rock, paper, scissors.” Chase said with a knowing nod. “Okay, so, let me see if I got this. Earth beats wind, wind beats water, water beats fire and fire beats earth.” 

Heckyl nodded approvingly. “Yes.” 

“Okay, teach me the hand motions.” Chase said encouragingly. 

“This is wind.” Heckyl said and raised his hand up and unfolded his fingers in front of his lips and blew a puff of air across the skin of his palm. Chase repeated the motion and smiled. 

“This is fire.” Heckyl said and smirked wickedly as he held a closed fist out and unfolded his fingers upwards. 

“Looks familiar.” Chase teased. Heckyl chuckled. He used the same motion to create his own balls of blue fire when his magic was cooperating. 

“I will admit the childhood game inspired the action.” Heckyl said with a slight flush on his cheeks that was hidden by the shadows of the cave. Another good reason to have not built a fire. “This is water.” Heckyl said and lifted his hand up and wiggled his fingers in a downward motion to mimic rain. “And this is earth.” He said and held a tight fist out firmly.

“Okay,” Chase said and repeated each of the hand motions carefully a few times before he grinned. “Let’s give this a go!” 

Heckyl nodded and frowned. “I’m afraid you’ll need to be feeling a bit better to do the first part.” 

“In rock, paper, scissors we count to three and then pick our weapon.” Chase offered helpfully.

“Sounds like it will do.” Heckyl shrugged. It wasn’t quite the same, but it would work until Chase was well enough to learn the series of motions typically used to begin a round of the game. 

Together they counted to three and ‘released’ their elements. Heckyl had chosen wind and Chase fire.

“It’s a draw.” Heckyl announced. 

“Not going to lie,” Chase giggled. “I kind of just wanted to pretend to be you.” 

“Really?” Heckyl was surprised. 

“You have to admit you have the whole cool factor going for you.” Chase said and closed his eyes. He looked exhausted. 

“Perhaps we should play again after you’ve rested.” Heckyl pointed out. 

“So far I’m undefeated.” Chase chuckled. “I guess that’s a good enough time to take a break.” 

Heckyl hummed his response, but he doubted Chase heard him. The human’s breath had evened out and he had tipped over, only stopped when his body rested against Heckyl’s side. 

For a moment Heckyl debated in moving so that Chase would fall over, but he quickly discarded the thought. He immediately felt a ping of guilt for even considering it. Then he felt a shrill of anger because he shouldn’t care about Chase or what happened to the pesky human. 

Unfortunately and rather frustratingly, Heckyl did care.


	13. Chapter 13

“You look better.” Heckyl commented as he came back into the cave after exploring the surrounding area a bit. It had been a day and night since they had first slept in the new cave. So far the creatures hadn’t found them. Heckyl wasn’t sure they were even being hunted, but it was better to be safe than sorry in any case. 

Chase did look better. He was standing in the middle of the cave and turned to face Heckyl with a grin on his still pale face. Pale, not grey. It was an improvement. 

“I feel less dizzy.” Chase announced. “I wanted to get up and move around a little.” 

“You should stay in the cave.” Heckyl said quickly. “It’ll be safer for you.” 

The human’s natural smile faded a little. “If I’m stuck in here I can’t help you find a way back home.” 

Heckyl was about to snap that Earth wasn’t his home, but stopped himself. Although he wasn’t born on Earth he had spent a good chunk of time there. Most of it had been orbiting the planet while stuck in a jail cell, but still. Earth had a certain charm. Although his other half had wanted to destroy the blue marble of a place, Heckyl found it kind of fascinating. 

“Do you think,” Heckyl started, but cut himself off with a shake of his head. 

“What?” Chase asked curiously. 

“Nothing.” Heckyl said firmly and started to storm towards the entrance of the cave again. 

“No,” Chase said and followed until he managed to snag ahold of Heckyl’s arm. “What were you going to say?” 

Heckyl could easily pull his arm free, but he didn’t. Instead he stopped and lowered his head as he considered ignoring the question. Chase was hard to ignore. “I – it’s stupid.” 

“Tell me.” Chase asked softly. 

“I wanted, I want to know if you think I could ever fit in on Earth?” Heckyl said finally, not looking back at Chase. “After everything I did – after everything Snide has done – do you think I could stay?” 

Chase was quiet for a second and finally Heckyl turned and roughly pulled his arm free. 

“I believe that you have the ability to prove that you are a good guy.” Chase nodded, stopping the boiling anger from exploding within Heckyl. “You’ve proven it to me.” 

“You don’t know me.” Heckyl pointed out. It lacked the usual amount of bitter anger. 

“I know you really don’t like to lose.” Chase said softly. “I know you saved me when you didn’t have to.” 

“You saved me first.” Heckyl countered. “I owed you a debt.” 

“A truly bad guy wouldn’t care about debts.” Chase pointed out. “You have honor. I’ve seen your heart. Sure, you aren’t exactly patient, but you can be if you need to be.”

Heckyl fell quiet and finally looked at Chase. He wondered if he had learned as much about Chase as Chase had seemed to learn about him. He knew that Chase was far too trusting for his own good. He had trusted Heckyl not to kill him, which had been so very foolish. Chase had also trusted Aurora, which had been down right stupid. 

Chase had risked everything for Heckyl and expected nothing in return. 

“You asked if I thought you could stay.” Chase shrugged. “You can, it probably won’t be easy, but I believe you can change everything if you truly want to.” 

“You trust too easily.” Heckyl pointed out. 

“It’s worked out for me so far.” Chase winked. “Do you want to tell me what you found out there?” The human asked, nodding towards the entrance of their current cave. 

“There’s another village not far from here.” Heckyl sighed. “I didn’t go very close, it doesn’t look like the other village.” 

“What was different?” Chase asked and moved to sit down against the cave wall. The strength he had been building up seemed to be suddenly spent. The human yawned and shook his head a little. 

“There were no tents. There were only a few ‘buildings.’” Heckyl moved to sit opposite of Chase. “It seemed like a quiet place with few people actually living there.” 

“Do you think anyone there has a way off of this rock?” Chase asked slowly. 

“Maybe.” Heckyl glanced away. He honestly wasn’t planning on going anywhere near the village. They would find their own way off the planet. 

Somehow. 

Strangers on this planet were proving to be dubious at best. 

“If there is,” Heckyl locked eyes with Chase who looked worried for the first time about their future. “I’ll find it.” 

Chase nodded. 

Like he believed in Heckyl. 

Heckyl wasn’t sure what to do with that information. 

__

Chase slept on and off. Heckyl would come and go. They played games when Chase was feeling up to it and when he wasn’t they talked about ways of escaping back to Earth. 

The odds of actually getting home seemed to be getting more and more impossible. 

“I want to come with you.” Chase said as Heckyl got ready to leave the cave. 

“Yeah,” Heckyl huffed. “That’s not happening.” 

“I’m going to go crazy if I stay in this cave much longer.” Chase sighed. “I’ll be more useful if I’m out there with you. If I stay here I’m a sitting duck anyway.” 

“Do ducks sit?” Heckyl frowned in contemplative thought. “Or do they lay down on their stomachs? Since they are never not horizontal I would think that for them…” 

“Heckyl.” Chase interrupted swiftly. 

The alien sighed. “Are you sure you are ready?” 

“Yep.” Chase nodded confidently. 

“Alright then,” Heckyl shrugged a shoulder. “I suppose I can’t stop you.” 

“You could,” Chase said without thinking about it. “I’m glad you decided not to.” 

“Should you find yourself about to die I hope you hold on to that pleasant memory.” Heckyl said darkly as he led the way out of the cave. 

Although there was a great chance that Chase might meet his end on the strange planet, he had a pretty good feeling that Heckyl wouldn’t let that happen without a fight. The alien had already saved him twice – it was good progress. 

They were bonding. 

Really bonding. 

They walked in compatible silence through the woods. The trees were different, Chase noted. A different shade of bluish-purple leaves that hung lower to the ground, almost like weeping willows. 

“You are pleasantly quiet.” Heckyl commented after a while. 

Chase hesitated a little as he nodded. In all honesty he was listening for sounds of trees breaking or something else as eerie to signal the arrival of the creature who had attacked them before. 

“If you are afraid why did you come?” Heckyl asked, not leaving much room for Chase to defend himself. 

“Fear can do one of two things,” Chase answered calmly. “It can drive you into a corner where you lose all hope, or it can drive you to do the unexpected.”

“And what Earth nonsense is that from?” Heckyl asked with a roll of his eyes. 

“My grandmother.” Chase said reverently. “Probably the wisest woman I’ve ever known, well, besides Kendall.” 

Heckyl was quiet for a moment, his eyes locked on a small rock near the base of a nearby tree. “My father was the wisest person I knew and I destroyed him and the rest of my people – is that the kind of ‘unexpected’ thing your grandmother was talking about?” 

Chase was quiet for a moment and took in a shaky breath. “The things Snide did when he was in control were not your fault.” 

Heckyl’s gaze locked with Chase’s with such intensity it was hard not to look away. Chase knew that if he did look away all the progress he had made with Heckyl would die instantly. 

“Regardless of whether or not it was my fault,” Heckyl looked away. “I shall never forgive myself.” 

Chase’s heart broke a little, but he couldn’t say he didn’t understand. Well, he didn’t understand, he never could fully appreciate the damage Snide had caused Heckyl. Still, Chase would probably feel the same way if he and Heckyl had switched lives. 

“I want to help you.” Chase whispered pleadingly. 

“You can’t.” Heckyl promised with his chin tipped up. The two stood together for a moment before Heckyl sighed and moved off into the woods again. Chase hesitated a moment, still deep in thought before he followed.


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> IT'S MY BIRTHDAY! 
> 
> Thanks for sticking around. I actually am close to the end with the writing of this story and (Gasp!) I have started writing a new Chase/Heckyl story, but I want to finish it (and this one) before I start posting so you guys don't have to wait so long for updates. 
> 
> Although we'll see how long that lasts...I sometimes get too excited and post things before it's all wrapped up nice and neat. 
> 
> Alas. 
> 
> Still, I feel really excited that my creative juices seem to be returning!

They trekked silently through the woods until they reached the edge of the tree line. 

“There is a village down this valley.” Heckyl announced in a somewhat hushed voice as they reached the top of a hill, not quite leaving the safety of the trees. Sure enough down a ways was a small village. 

It looked more village-like than the glorified marketplace had. There were permanent buildings built in neat little rows with what appeared to be yards and streets. Chase could even see white fences and gardens from where they stood. 

It looked homey. 

“Have you made contact with anyone that lives there?” Chase asked curiously as he glanced at his companion. 

“No.” Heckyl sighed and rolled his eyes a bit. “I would have told you if I had.” He added sounding a little miffed.

“Well,” Chase stretched a little. “There’s no time like the present. Let’s go say hi.” 

Heckyl stopped him, grabbing the human’s wrist forcefully in his hand. “Don’t be a moron, any one of those creatures living in that place could be worse than the ones we left behind. Or they could be working together and turn you over the second you step onto their streets.” 

Chase grinned. “Well, yeah, that could happen. Or they could be our answer on how to get home.” 

“It’s your home, not mine.” Heckyl reminded sharply, but released Chase’s arm roughly. “Fine. Lead the way to our probable demise.” 

“That’s the spirit!” Chase laughed lightly at Heckyl’s open pessimism and led the way down the grassy hill. 

Up close it was easy to see that the people who lived in the village weren’t nomadic travelers of any sort. They had built comfortable lives in this place. Peaceful, even. It was hard to believe that those living in such serenity could be working with Aurora and the metal eaters. 

The two of them received a few curious looks from the locals. Most of the aliens looked similar to humans, but with curiously large eyes and large, pointy ears. 

It took a few minutes for a small group to approach the men. “Are you looking to trade?” A woman asked. 

“Not exactly.” Chase said at the same time Heckyl growled, “no.” 

The woman glanced at the man next to her who shrugged his shoulder in silent reply. “We aren’t a trading market.” The female alien informed them worriedly. Given the vast range of strange and terrifying characters Heckyl and Chase had encountered in the previous village, Chase understood their reservation. 

“We’re not here to trade.” Chase said before Heckyl could snap anything too harsh at the kindly creatures. “We’re looking for a way back to our planet, we were sent here accidently.”

Well, it hadn’t been an accident on Heckyl’s part, but the travel arrangements and destination had not been consensual. 

The creature’s eyes grew wider and the woman took a step back. 

“Impossible.” The man said and looked sad for them. 

Heckyl glared at Chase who deflated a little. So Heckyl had been right. Maybe there was no way back after all. Still, Chase didn’t regret asking. He regretted the answer hadn’t been what he was hoping for, but he had needed to know. 

There was no way back. The sooner Chase accepted – 

“Wait.” The woman said. Her head tilted to the side as if she was hearing something. She sniffed the air with her rabbit-like nose. “There is a strange power here.” 

Heckyl and Chase shared a very ‘oh shit, here we go again,’ look before they each took a step back. Heckyl stealthily placed himself in front of Chase in a smooth movement. It was like a strange and well coordinated dance move. 

The two alien creatures blinked in surprise. Clearly they hadn’t expected the amount of fear the woman’s words would instill. The man raised his hands in a non-threatening way. 

Chase jumped a little, looking around like he expected a dark mass of not-vampires to appear and jump on him again. 

“I – I didn’t mean to frighten you.” The woman spoke, visibly shaken with confusion. 

Heckyl didn’t look impressed as he stood stance ready to fight them to the death. 

“The power – the magic – it’s returning within both of you.” The woman said softly. “Perhaps together you can reignite the portal on top of the great mountain.” 

A look of hesitant understanding spread across Chase’s face. His heart stuttered and he reached inside his shirt and pulled out his energem. Heckyl caught the movement and glanced back at him over his shoulder, still uncertain – that is until both of them saw the light faintly glowing within the frosted stone. The rabbit-lady was right. The energem was regaining its power. 

Chase felt a swell of emotion that was nearly overwhelming. His breath hitched in his chest and he nearly broke down crying right then and there. He hadn’t destroyed the power. He hadn’t ruined everything. He could still defend Earth – if he ever managed to get back there. 

Heckyl relaxed ever so slowly as he observed both the black energem and Chase’s reaction to it. In retrospect the energem had probably been continually depleted of its power to keep Chase alive during the ‘procedures’ Aurora had put him through. Once Chase had been given a steady time to recover the crystal had started to recover as well. 

“Your power is returning as well.” The woman said gently. Heckyl turned to her and then glanced down at his open palm. Could it be true? Heckyl curled his fingers into a fist and dropped his arm back down to his side as he turned his blue gaze to the woman. 

“How do we open the portal?” Heckyl asked, getting straight to the point. The faster they managed to get back to Earth, the safer Chase would be. 

The woman hesitated, but the man spoke first. “It would be far to dangerous.” He shook his head. “The creatures patrol the area, even if you were to reach the top, they would stop you.” 

“The creatures,” Heckyl growled. “The ones that eat metal?” 

The two aliens nodded and retreated back across the street to continue about their day. 

Chase was still transfixed on his energem and the glittering light within the smoky crystal. 

“Come on.” Heckyl said. “We should get back to the cave.” 

Chase’s eyes snapped up and he glanced around, seemingly aware that their new ‘friends’ had started to leave. Chase sprinted forward and the two aliens turned back, surprised, but not fearful. “Where is the great mountain?” he asked breathlessly. 

“It would be suicide for you – ”

“There.” The woman interrupted the man, pointing a long finger in the direction of the mountain in the opposite direction of their current cave home. 

“Thank you.” Chase said earnestly and turned back to Heckyl who looked very disapproving over the developing situation.

“This isn’t a good plan.” Heckyl snapped as they left the village together. 

Chase tucked the energem back into the safety of his shirt and shrugged a shoulder. “None of our plans this far have been stellar. We have two choices as far as I can tell. Either we run around trying to stay alive on this planet and eventually get caught and killed, or, we make a play for the only shot we have on getting home.” 

Chase’s dark gaze fixed on Heckyl. “I’m not going to lie and say I’m not afraid – I am afraid that those things are going to take me and drain me every day until I die. The thing is, I can’t just wait around, waiting for that to happen. It’s going to happen, Heckyl. This way, I – we – at least have a chance.” 

Heckyl scowled, but didn’t argue as they trekked back to their temporary home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for dropping by!


	15. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Good news, this story has an ending and it is near-ish. Just need to finish editing things up for you guys! 
> 
> Thanks to those who stuck around!

For the next two days they didn’t talk about what had happened. They didn’t go back to the new village either. Heckyl continued to go out and provide for them. Mostly he brought back various fish he caught from the river. 

Fish, as it turned out, was the safest food choice for both of them to eat. The bonus was it was fairly easy to fry up. It didn’t taste terrific, but it kept them both alive. 

While Heckyl was gone Chase would stare at his energem and watch the light within the dull stone grow stronger. 

Five days after the interaction in the village Heckyl caught Chase trying to morph for the first time. 

A flash of light and Chase felt a surge of energy as the energem tried to unleash its power – but the energem wasn’t ready, and neither was Chase. The force of the aborted power surge was enough to shove Chase across the cave floor and slammed him against the wall. 

“Shit.” Heckyl shouted and closed the gap between himself and his human companion. The alien grabbed Chase and pushed his crumpled form back into a sitting position. 

“Ouch.” Chase mumbled as his eyes fluttered open. 

Once certain that Chase wasn’t damaged too seriously, Heckyl let the human go and stood up in a snappy motion. “You moron!”

“Yeah,” Chase coughed a little. “Agreed - wholeheartedly. Damn, I thought I was ready.” 

“You – you moron.” Heckyl repeated as he paced angrily. “What the hell were you thinking?” 

Chase glanced at his hands and shook his head. “I want to go home.” He said finally. “I mean, every time the sun sets I wonder if they are going to find us.” 

Heckyl’s anger rushed out of him at Chase’s words. The alien’s shoulders dropped and he sighed. With a second sigh Heckyl held out his hand and ignited a ball of blue light with his magic. “I’ve been practicing too.” He admitted. “I think I’m almost ready.” 

This made Chase look up, eyes hopeful instead of ashamed. Heckyl wasn’t certain about the look, or why Chase had seemed ashamed. Maybe the human felt bad for wanting to end their time together. No, that was foolish. They weren’t friends – not really. They were enemies forced into a situation where they needed one another. 

Heckyl shook his head. It felt like more, but he wasn’t too hopeful that the comradely he and Chase had would continue once they returned to Earth. 

“If I can morph, maybe they won’t be able to get to my skin.” Chase said carefully. “Give me a few days, I’ll be able to do it.” 

It took a moment before Heckyl answered. “Okay.” He nodded and they spent the rest of the evening in silent contemplation. 

__

It was mid-morning three days later when Chase stood up and took a deep breath. 

“So.” Heckyl said levelly as he watched Chase shake out his hands. “Are you going to do this, or stall all day long – again?” 

Chase sent him a sideways glare and let out the breath slow before he grabbed his energem and said, “It’s morphing time.” There was a shift of power within him that was startling. For so long Chase had felt weak and tired – it was like he had downed ten cups of pure espresso. He felt awake. 

It wasn’t like the last time he had tried to morph when he had been flung backwards, this time the power merged with his very molecules. In a flash he was protected by his power ranger armor – safe from any nasty fangs that tried to pierce his skin. 

“Yes!” Chase cheered and did a little dance, thrilled for the protection and power he felt. 

Heckyl stood and Chase immediately pulled the alien into his awkward dance party. Shockingly, Heckyl didn’t protest the action. He didn’t quite loosen up completely. 

Eventually Chase stopped and grinned under his helmet at Heckyl. “We’re getting off of this rock.” He announced. “I can feel it!” 

With a small smirk Heckyl agreed, but lowered his gaze to the ground. “Yes. Then things will go back to normal.” 

All the joy Chase had felt fell flat as he stared back at Heckyl. He de-morphed so that he could look the alien in the eyes as he spoke. “Not normal like before. We don’t have to be enemies when we go back to Earth.” 

“All bets are off, isn’t that what you said? We go back and everything stays the same. That was the deal.” Heckyl reminded Chase.

“I only put it that way so you’d let me help you.” Chase admitted. “It doesn’t have to be that way now. We can change the deal. Snide is gone. You’ve saved me more times than I can count during this little misadventure. We – I – we’re friends, aren’t we?” 

“And what about your friends?” Heckyl turned his back to Chase. “They aren’t going to feel the same.” 

“Then I’ll convince them.” Chase said confidently. He grinned, although the bright smile was lost on his stubborn companion. “You should know by now that I am very good at winning people and aliens over.” 

“You’re an idiot.” Heckyl grunted, but dropped his arms and sighed. “Let’s get off the planet, then we can worry about the future.” 

Chase wasn’t sure who Heckyl was trying to convince, but he was pretty sure the words weren’t meant for him.

__

The walk to the foot of the mountain was uneventful. The two companions didn’t speak as they hiked. It felt good to be outside and moving around without feeling so weak. Chase relished in the sunlight. What he wouldn’t given for a mountain bike or something else with a kick of speed. Oh well, when he got back to Earth he was going to be fused to his skateboard. Nothing was going to stop him from doing all the things he loved. 

Nothing was going to stop him from hanging out with Heckyl either. Although Heckyl was unconvinced that the other rangers could ever trust him, Chase was sure that they could be won over. Eventually. 

It would work out. 

It had to. 

“You should morph.” Heckyl broke their companionable silence before they started up the slope of the mountain. It was littered with thick vegetation and neither of them knew what awaited them in the shadows. 

Chase nodded. If he was morphed the creatures would have a harder time trying to suck the iron from his blood. The human shuddered, lost momentarily in the memory of the last time…

“We can do this another day.” Heckyl said, his voice softer than Chase was used to. 

For a moment Chase stared back at Heckyl and debated whether or not they could actually live on the planet, stranded, forever and survive. No, their best chance was to go home. It was their only chance. When they got back to Earth Chase wouldn’t end the relationship they had built. The idea of losing Heckyl felt like losing part of his heart. 

“No.” Chase said, blushing a bit when he realized he had taken so long to respond. “Sorry. No. We need to do this. Together. We need to go home – to Earth.” 

Heckyl nodded, although there was a sadness in his eyes that Chase couldn’t quite read. No, Chase knew what the look meant. Heckyl was convinced returning to Earth meant returning to being enemies. 

Words wouldn’t change the alien’s mind. No, Chase would have to show Heckyl. 

After Chase was safely in his armor the duo continued up the incline of the mountain. 

Someone once told Chase that the measure of a true friend was how long a comfortable silence lasted between them. If that were true, Chase and Heckyl were besties. Of course, they were also keeping the steady commentary to themselves to keep from being heard and attacked by anything unseen lurking around. 

A crash off to the right made Chase jump, aim and fire his blaster before he really registered what he was shooting at. Instincts were on his side and he watched as the darkly clad creature slammed into the forest floor. It didn’t move again. 

“Human.” 

That wasn’t Heckyl. Chase turned and saw one of the creatures standing directly behind his alien friend. Heckyl looked more put out than anything else. The things long fingers were wrapped around the alien’s vulnerable neck. 

“Remove your armor.” The creature spoke, it’s voice a rolling rumble. 

Chase looked at Heckyl and saw the blue haired man’s face twist in an unpleasant mixture of anger and alarm. He probably thought Chase would comply. Silly alien. Chase was clever. Now that he wasn’t half dead, Chase could think on his feet once again. Sure his plan could end very badly, but there was that fleeting possibility that his optimism would win. 

“Hey, hold on, can’t we talk about this?” Chase asked in a chuckling, carefree tone as he held out his hands carefully. 

“Lower your weapon.” The creature growled, no doubt unhappy that Chase was waving it around. 

“Oh, this?” Chase said, spinning the gun around carefully. 

“I will snap his neck.” The bloodsucker promised. 

“And lose your leverage?” Chase asked, aghast. “Okay. You have me.” He promised. “I’ll put my weapon down. Hold on, I’ll go slow. Don’t go killing him yet and messing this little exchange up.” 

A very confused look passed over Heckyl’s eyes as he watched Chase in action. He frowned for a moment and then stifled a grin. Apparently he had picked up on Chase’s plan and beyond reason, approved. 

The standoff was over in a flash, Chase slowly bent down, keeping his eyes on the creature as he moved and aimed. One blast was all it took – it hit the creature where Chase had assumed his forehead had been. Chase had always been the team’s greatest hotshot. The creature fell and Heckyl was free. 

“I missed this thing.” Chase said wistfully and made a move as if to kiss the blaster, but his facemask got in the way. 

“As amusing as your display was, we don’t know how many more of them they are.” The alien pointed out sharply, kicking the creature in the head before he started back up the slope. 

“Right.” Chase agreed and spun the blaster around on his finger again as he practically skipped after Heckyl’s more stomping pace. “You can thank me whenever you’re ready.” 

Heckyl shot the power ranger a glare, but it softened. “Thanks.” He said. “For not doing something completely irrational and self-sacrificing like you usually do.” 

“Hey, now, that’s only if things are really bad.” Chase grinned, although the mega-watt smile was lost on his companion, hidden under his mask. “I had everything under control.” 

“Sure.” Heckyl rolled his eyes and they fell back into careful silence.


	16. Chapter 16

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Haha! I managed an update. Totally didn't think I'd get it out tonight, but here it is!
> 
> Enjoy! One left!

The duo reached the structure at the top of the mountain without any further interruptions. Although the planet’s equivalent to a squirrel had been brutally murdered after making a little too much ruckus in some bushes. The concept of shooting first and ask questions later really didn’t help that little fuzz ball out. 

Chase felt a bit guilty over the innocent animal’s death, but the thrill of hope overshadowed everything else. He and Heckyl stood admiring the ancient device. 

“So this is a portal.” Chase said and whistled. “Impressive.” 

“Hardly.” Heckyl huffed unhappily. “This rusted piece of space junk – well, let’s hope it doesn’t obliterate us by accident.”

“Well,” Chase straightened his back slightly. “So, what, it’ll be fine if it obliterates us on purpose?” 

Heckyl shot him a disapproving look and walked around the circular device. It kind of looked like a fancy metal well – void of water water. 

“This – this is what should power it.” Heckyl said as he examined a crystal of some sort. Dull and lifeless. It needed power – energy. The lady in the village had seemed rather positive that they could fix it. 

“Hey, I just realized this thing is made of metal.” Chase blinked. “How come it’s still – you know – not eaten?” 

They stood in silence for a moment before the answer dawned on Chase. “Because they want to leave the planet – eventually.” 

Heckyl nodded, agreeing with Chase’s thought process. “Perhaps.” 

“If we fix this thing – they could use it.” Chase took a step back, his mind flooding with the possibility of those horror movie extra’s ending up on a place like Earth. It would be pure devastation. Even if it wasn’t Earth, Chase wouldn’t ever be able to sleep again if – 

“You’re having second thoughts.” Heckyl said, his voice softer than Chase expected. 

“I can’t release those things back out into the universe.” Chase tried to explain. “Here they’re stuck – the people on this planet have adapted, but some other place might not be able to handle it.” 

Heckyl tipped his head slightly to the side. “If you – we – stay here, you’ll die.” 

Chase thought about his family, his friends. If he stayed he would die, sure, but if he left the idea of others suffering from his selfishness was too terrible. He couldn’t be the cause of chaos. 

De-morphing Chase let out a heavy sigh. They had come all this way. They had been so close. “I can’t.” He leveled a desperate look with Heckyl, hoping to somehow make the alien understand. 

“I know.” Heckyl nodded quietly. “We’ll figure it out. Together. We’ll survive.” 

“Living in caves?” Chase chuckled sadly. 

“Yes.” Heckyl nodded. “Together.” 

“Well – isn’t this unexpected.” A new voice announced. 

Heckyl was quick to capture Chase’s wrist and pull the human behind him. Chase, slightly dizzy from the sudden motion looked around Heckyl and saw what had spooked his friend. 

Port. 

“Come to gloat?” Heckyl snarled. “Or finish the job?” 

Port grinned, revealing abnormally pointy teeth. “I must admit, I am surprised you survived the trip to this lovely world. I’ve been watching you – both of you.” 

“Creepy.” Chase muttered under his breath. 

“You’ve changed, Heckyl.” The creature announced. “I honestly didn’t think you had it in you to do so.” 

“I like a little plot twist every now and then.” Heckyl said coolly.

“Yes, yes, well.” Port waved his hand, swatting Heckyl’s words away. “I’ve decided to help you both out. I believe this one has been a terrific influence on you.” He motioned a hand towards Chase. “I hope that continues.” 

“And…you’re going to watch to make sure?” Chase asked, honestly hoping that wasn’t true. 

“No.” Port huffed, as if Chase’s worries were completely unfounded, even given the fact that the creature had definitely admitted to watching them for the last, what? Chase honestly didn’t know how long they had been trapped. 

“What’s the catch?” Heckyl asked, but his shoulder’s relaxed slightly. 

“Cause me trouble again and the next place I send you won’t be as nice as this.” Port smiled his sharp-toothed smile again and snapped his fingers before either Chase or Heckyl could reply something sarcastic. 

Honestly, if the portal creating creature thought this place was…

Chase snatched ahold of Heckyl as they both were pulled backwards into a swirling, chaotic beam of light. 

__

Chase grunted as his body slammed into the ground. His ears rang and his brain was still spinning inside of his skull as he heard a thud next to him. His hand was still wrapped around Heckyl’s limp wrist, but neither of them were able to moving. 

He cracked his eyes open and let out a groan. 

Someone called out his name – it was the last thing he heard before he fell back into darkness. 

__

Feeling weak and a little sick, Chase opened his eyes and wondered where Heckyl was. He was in a cave, but the light was wrong. Artificial. 

“Hey, there.” Kendall’s voice drifted to his ears and he turned to face her. “How are you feeling?” 

“A little dizzy.” Chase whispered hoarsely. “What happened? Where – where’s Heckyl?” 

“Heckyl, um.” Kendall looked uncomfortable. “Tyler and Shelby are watching over him – he’s at the park still. Where we found you.” 

Chase frowned. “Why? I – I need to see him.” Weakly Chase tried to sit up and protested when Kendall tried to stop him. 

“He’s gone.” Shelby said, her voice cutting through the tension in the room. Both Kendall and Chase looked at her and Tyler as they entered the lab. 

“Heckyl?” Chase whispered and collapsed back on the pillows, exhausted. His body was betraying him from the one thought that consumed him: he had to find Heckyl. “Where is he? Where did he go?” 

Shelby looked shocked at his questions and Tyler’s face was filled with concern. “He took one look at us when he woke up, got up and walked away.”

Chase was devastated. “He – he didn’t,” Chase couldn’t say the words out loud. Of course Heckyl hadn’t asked about him or worried where he was. They had made a deal. When they got home all bets were off. Chase had thought their deal had changed. Heckyl had been right all along, Chase was a fool. 

“Chase?” Kendall noticed something shift under his expression. 

“Just go.” Chase said brokenly and turned his back to his friends. He curled up on his side and covered his head with his arms to try and block out an onslaught of regrets that rushed into him. 

“Chase.” Tyler tried. 

“I want to be alone.” He managed to say before the darkness dragged him back down into silence and safety.

__

Heckyl woke and found that although he wasn’t alone, he wasn’t with the company he wanted. Chase was gone and although it wasn’t overly surprising, it hurt. He didn’t speak to his guards, but they allowed him to leave without a fight, so that was something. 

It took a while, but he managed to stumble onto the remains of Sledge’s space ship. The cellblock was eerily silent as he walked deck to deck. The place was like a tomb, littered with dust and disuse. 

“Master Heckyl!” 

Heckyl turned and eyed Wrench who looked startled to see another life among the dead. 

“And here I thought this place was empty.” Heckyl recovered quickly. “You stayed?” 

“I had no home to return to,” Wrench said honestly. “When you vanished the others quickly decided Earth wasn’t for them. With no one, uh, guiding them they all went their own ways.” 

Heckyl noticed that Wrench looked terrified, probably certain that with no one else to feel Heckyl’s wrath that he would suffer it all. 

“Calm down, Wrench – I’m not going to kill you.” Heckyl rolled his eyes. “I hope you don’t mind a roommate, since I don’t have anywhere to go at the moment.” 

“Uh, yes, yes of course sir!” Wrench fumbled and bowed. 

“Really, all that formality isn’t necessary.” Heckyl grumbled and walked back towards the room he had claimed as his own. 

“Oh, oh, I wouldn’t go in there.” Wrench called. “The others, well, they were rather angry and, some did unspeakable things in there.” 

“Great.” Heckyl barked and was tempted, briefly, to destroy Wrench to let off some steam. 

No. Heckyl had changed – all thanks to Chase, that manipulative bastard. 

Instead of the ‘comfort’ of his semblance of ‘home,’ Heckyl returned to the solitary cell that had held him for countless years.


	17. Chapter 17

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is it! The end. Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed! I did start a new Chase/Heckyl story, but I'm not sure how great it is, lol. We'll see if I feel good enough to post it. ^^
> 
> Again, thanks for reading!

It took a while for Chase to want to listen to his friends or generally get out of bed. Kendall said he was depressed, Chase agreed with her assessment. Not that he cared. 

Keeper had taken it upon himself to gradually fill Chase in on what had happened after Chase had been sent through the portal. The kindly alien seemed to understand when Chase felt too overwhelmed or tired to listen to the information. Eventually Chase had everything figured out in his head. Though it was all rather sudden and strange. The majority of Sledge’s monsters had taken off, going back to wherever they had been taken from. The few that remained did pop up from time to time, but ultimately hadn’t been much of a threat. 

Things had been peaceful. 

Ironic that the monsters had started popping up out of the woodwork after Chase had bonded with his energem and they had left as soon as he was kicked off the planet. Of course it was a little egotistical to think that he was the cause of all Earth’s problems. Chase wasn’t that powerful, he managed to laugh darkly over it when he was left alone. He figured Heckyl might even get a kick out of that chunk of information – if he hadn’t ran off and ditched Chase as soon as they got back. 

Slowly Keeper had managed to extract the story of lost time from Chase. The black ranger didn’t want to admit how foolish he had been, so he gave vague answers that didn’t give a whole lot of detail. He said he and Heckyl had no choice but to rely on one another. Snide had been destroyed and they had managed to find a way back to Earth – eventually. 

Keeper had been patient and accepted the information Chase had offered without pressing for more. It was one of the great things about Keeper – the guy didn’t judge. 

Shelby and Riley had been a bit over eager to hear all the details of Chase’s alone time with Heckyl. They poked, prodded and bullied Chase for more information. Chase might have been impressed by their persistence if he wasn’t their target – it drove him crazy and he found himself avoiding them at all costs. They were frustrated when Chase kept tight lipped about all the ‘juicy’ mysteries and Kendal and Ivan constantly had to step in more than once to get them to back off. 

Chase understood their curiosity, he just didn’t care that their thirst for information went unquenched. 

“It’s a nice day, today.” Kendall commented as she worked at her station. Koda sat nearby, messing around with a handheld game system. The caveman’s tongue was sticking out at an odd angle as he focused all his attention on whatever game he was playing. 

Chase was curled on the medical bed he’d taken as his own. His apartment had been lost in the time he was off planet. Kendall was helping him get a new place, but it was slow going. 

Koda grunted an acknowledgement without looking up from the device, not realizing that Kendall wasn’t talking to him – or maybe she was, but Chase kind of doubted it. 

“Chase,” Kendall glanced up at him from her work. “I don’t want to push you if you aren’t ready, but maybe a walk would make you feel better?” 

Kendall was a good friend. A great one, really. Chase appreciated her more than he could put into words, which was saying something given that finding words was becoming harder for him. 

“Okay.” Chase said after a long pause. He didn’t want to go for a walk, or do anything for that matter, but he was tired of worrying his friends. They didn’t deserve it. They didn’t deserve a pathetic waste of space for a friend. 

“You don’t have to,” Kendall back tracked a bit, looking flushed and worried as she stood and moved to watch as he pulled himself up on the bed. “I don’t want to push you, but – ”

“You’re worried.” Chase finished for her and rubbed a hand over his face. “It’s fine, Kendall. It’s time for me to get past this.” 

“Need company?” Koda asked, his handheld game sitting forgotten at his side. 

“Sure.” Chase said and forced his lips to smile. The expression felt strange and strained, but the sentiment got a bigger, brighter smile out of the caveman. So his efforts of pretending like things were okay were worth it. 

“Here, it’s a little cold outside.” Kendall said and handed him a hoodie she had gotten from the museum gift shop. It was black and had an illustration of a t-rex’s skeleton wearing sunglasses with the words, ‘fossils are cool’ written around it in bold white letters. 

Although not at all his style, Chase offered her a micro smile and slipped the soft hoodie over his head. The material hung loosely on his frame, which told a pretty clear story of how little Chase had been caring about himself lately. He had already lost quite a bit of weight while surviving in caves with Heckyl – he barely had any weight left to lose. 

“Watch out for him.” Kendall said to Koda in a hushed voice. Chase didn’t react to the words since he probably wasn’t meant to hear them. 

Shoes on, Chase buried his hands in the pouch of the hoodie and walked with Koda up and out of he museum. They didn’t stop by the café – Chase didn’t want to deal with the spectacle his friends would make of him being out of bed. The energy they would require of him would send him back into hibernation before he ever saw the sun. 

Chase missed the sun. He naturally had a love for being outside – but admittedly a month’s worth of ‘camping’ and he had needed a bit of a break. Granted things would have been different if, well, things had been different. 

Not that Chase wanted to dwell on that nugget of darkness. 

It was a nice day. Kendall hadn’t lied. As they stepped outside the museum Chase stopped and turned his head up towards the sky. The sun was warm on his cold skin and the fresh air was a nice change. 

“Want to go to the park?” Koda offered casually. 

“Sure.” Chase nodded and they started at a slow pace in that direction. “The sky was different there.” Chase said after a few minutes. “And the trees. It’s weird being back.” 

“Weird good?” Koda asked cautiously. “Or weird bad?” 

Honestly Chase didn’t know how to answer that. “A mixture of both, I guess.” 

“You miss Heckyl?” Koda guessed with surprising ease. 

Chase looked at his friend and stopped walking. “Yeah.” He admitted and moved to sit on a bench – ironically the same bench he and Koda were sitting on before one of Sledge’s attacked them years ago. “I miss him.” More than he dared to admit out loud. 

“He has not attacked us.” Koda sat down next to Chase, still giving him a comfortable amount of space. “Maybe he has changed.” 

“Maybe.” Chase agreed half-heartedly. He wanted to believe that Heckyl had changed, but if that were true, why hadn’t Heckyl tried to find him after they had gotten back to Earth? For all Chase knew, Heckyl had left the planet without so much as a goodbye. 

Then again, it wasn’t as if Chase had been out there trying to find Heckyl either. 

A wave of guilt crashed over Chase and he visible deflated. 

“You okay?” Koda asked worriedly. 

“Yeah – I’m fine. Just, thinking.” Chase sighed. 

“That sounds dangerous.” A new voice commented coolly. Chase jumped up faster than he probably should have and whirled around to see Heckyl leaning against a tree nearby. Heckyl smirked a little as his eyes focused on Chase’s hoodie. “Cute.” 

“You’re still here!” Chase said bluntly, jaw still dropped from surprise. “I thought, maybe you, but you’re still here!” 

“Somewhere in that mess of a sentence I think there might be a fully formed thought.” Heckyl chuckled and moved closer to Chase and Koda. Koda was tense, but watched Chase, waiting for any indication that Heckyl was being threatening.

“You kept saying Earth wasn’t your home.” Chase tried to explain. “I thought you might leave, like the others apparently did.” 

Heckyl lost a bit of his smirk, but shrugged a shoulder and looked away briefly. “Honestly I don’t have many places I can go without the risk of being executed on sight. Snide has a universe filled with enemies more worrisome than your friends. Besides,” Heckyl moved so he was standing just in front of Chase, still not making eye contact with anything other than the ground. “You are the closest thing to a friend – ”

Chase couldn’t stop himself from crushing his lips against Heckyl’s mouth. It was an impulsive move, but it had been the one thing Chase had regretted not doing while trapped on the other planet with Heckyl. It was the one thing Chase had promised he would do if he ever got the chance. 

When they pulled apart Heckyl was looking back at Chase with wide eyes. 

“Boyfriend.” Heckyl corrected himself. “You’re the closest thing to a boyfriend that I have.” He smiled and leaned in to steal his own kiss from Chase. 

__

As predicted it wasn’t easy to convince his friends that Heckyl had changed for the better, but with time and some serious charming, eventually they accepted that Heckyl wasn’t entirely a bad guy. 

There were a few rules to ensure that the energems stayed out of Heckyl’s control, which Chase and his new boyfriend had accepted. The lab was never revealed to Heckyl and no discussion of the energem search was to be brought up around the blue haired alien. 

Heckyl had moved in with Chase, leaving Wrench to create his own personal mansion out of the remains of Sledges ship. The metal monster had even offered help to the rangers from time to time to show he didn’t share the views of his former master. 

Aside from the occasional monster attack, Earth was once again a peaceful place. Which left the power rangers with some extra free time on their hands.

“Are you ready for this?” Chase asked as he stowed away his work apron and tossed a grin at Heckyl. They had both finished their shift at the museum. Chase was slightly amused that Heckyl still hadn’t accurately guessed where the lab was hidden. The alien usually had a new guess every night.

Heckyl frowned back at Chase. “I’m not sure this is the best idea you’ve had.” 

“According to you I have very few good ideas.” Chase chuckled dryly and handed Heckyl the skateboard he ordered him. The bottom was a bolt of blue lightning that formed a blue feather. Chase had it custom made as a present for their anniversary. “Come on, it’ll be fun.” 

“Death by stupidity isn’t exactly how I pictured the end of my existence.” Heckyl scowled at the wheeled contraption, but dutifully followed Chase out of the museum and onto the street. It was a short walk to the park. 

“Here,” Chase smiled and slipped a helmet over Heckyl’s blue hair. They had found a quiet place away from other park enjoyers. “This will keep that big old brain of yours safe.” 

“If you say so.” Heckyl sighed and placed the skateboard Chase had bought him on the sidewalk. “So, do I stand on it?” 

“First you’re going to get used to standing on it, then we’ll work on more advanced things like moving.” Chase grinned and held Heckyl’s hands as he stepped up onto the wheeled board. “How does that feel?” He asked once Heckyl was situated and in no immediate danger of falling. 

“Strange.” Heckyl mumbled with a frown. He looked up from his boots and gazed deep within Chase’s brown eyes. “What next?” 

“We move forward,” Chase smiled brightly. “Together.”


End file.
